Every Furyan Needs a Pack
by Rosmund Chadwick
Summary: Because there aren't enough 'girl-falls-into-Pitch-black' fics out there. A girl falls into the movie, but I'm going to attempt not to make it a simple 'reading through the movie' kind of fic.
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE**:

_** AN: I know I should be working more on my fic 'Into the Woods' but the Riddick Plot Bunny has bitten me badly...and I think maybe it had rabies or something...**_

_**Anyways, since there are not enough 'girl-falls-into-Pitch-Black' stories, I figured I'd write one. Here it goes.**_

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The long haired brunette let out an angry growl as she finally managed to unlock the door to her small apartment, storming in like a Hun on the warpath, her bifocals askew on her face.

"…..stupid, idiotic, cruel, mean….it's not like there's not about a million feet of space all around, nooooo, they have to go right where I'm going….." rambling to herself the nineteen year-old dropped her extremely heavy bookbag onto the cluttered floor with a loud thud and, absently straightening her glasses, moved straight to her laptop to fire it up. While the computer whirred, jumpstarting, the young woman grabbed a couple of towels and headed for the shower, practically ripping off her clothes.

The hot water was a blessing, pounding down on her back and easing her cramps. She spent a long time in there, letting the water wash away her troubles, or at least dilute them. When she was finished, she hastily dried herself, put in a new pad, dressed in some comfy, loose kitty pajamas and let her long hair hang down her back to drip dry.

Going to the kitchen to start up some popcorn, she continued her mental rant. "I mean, honestly, it's not like I'm doing anything to them…..I don't even **_TALK_** to them, for heavens sake." She poured the oil into the popcorn popper that her mom had gotten her after she had caught the last pan on literal fire. "Just minding my own business." She gritted her teeth. "Apparently, that's not enough."

The young woman lifted her slightly damp shirt to examine the bruise that was fast forming on her side and gave off a sigh. "I need a new school…No, I need a new **_PLANET_**…..and I'm still talking to myself." She shrugged her shoulders. "Ah, well. The best way to have an intelligent conversation, I guess."

After the popcorn had been added and the machine plugged in, the young woman moved back to her laptop and logged into Itunes to start one of her favorite movies of all times; Pitch Black starring Vin Diesel as Richard B. Riddick the Furyan.

Her name was Cassie Andrews. She was nineteen years old, fresh out of high-school and newly into college with a love for books and writing, an absolute hatred of math, a small dose of OCD and a problem with bullies.

After a quick check on the popcorn—no fires, everything good—she went back to her laptop so see the Hunter Gratzner floating in space, heard the voice of Richard B. Riddick speaking from the movie.

"….._They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep. All but the primitive side, the animal side. No wonder I'm still awake….._"

The mans voice sent happy shivers up her spine. Warm and deep and velvet. Purely masculine, a girls dream. She closed her eyes, savoring the sound, the tenor.

"….._Transporting me with civilians, sounded like forty, forty plus. Heard an Arab voice, some hoodoo holy man, probably on his way to New Mecca. But what route? ….What route? Smelled a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt, leather, prospector type._"

Cassie wondered absently what it would be like to possess Riddicks sense of smell. She couldn't help but let out a girlish giggle as she wondered what he thought she would smell like. Probably books and graphite from pencils, pen ink and….(_she winced as her womb spasmed_)…..blood.

_"…..Free settlers. And they only take the back roads. And here's my real problem; Mr. Johns, the blue-eyed devil. Plannin' on taking me back to slam only this time he picked a ghost lane."_

Oh yeah. Blue-eyed Johns the druggie.

Cassie shuddered theatrically and smiled to herself at her silliness after she stuck her tongue out at the Johns on the screen.

"….._A long time between stops…..A long time for something to go wrong."_

That was when the lights in her apartment flickered.

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Cassie blinked, distracted from the movie as she looked up at the ceiling, musing outloud to herself. "Well, **_that's_** odd." She cocked her head to the side, listening as her popcorn machine sputtered to a stop then started up again.

In the movie, tiny meteors penetrated the ship 'The Hunter Gratzner' but Cassie ignored it in favor of walking back to her small kitchenette and eyeing the popcorn machine. "Huh."

She went to check on her alarm-clock.

The numbers on the digital clock blinked, like it did when the power went out then came back on. She rolled her eyes and growled a little. This meant she would have to reset the darn thing and she always managed to somehow mess that up.

From her laptop, she could hear the movie continuing;

_"Why did I fall on you?"_

_"He's dead. The Captain's dead. I was looking right at'em."_

_"The chrono shows we have twenty-two weeks out, so-so gravity was not supposed to kick in for another nineteen. Why'd I fall at all?" _

The lights flickered again before they went out and Cassie groaned, rolling her eyes. The popcorn machine screeched to a stop, her alarm clock went dead in her hands, all the lights were off…..but she could still hear the movie playing on her laptop.

That made her pause for a minute in confusion before she remembered that her laptop had it's own separate battery, so of course it would continue working if the electricity went off….at least until the battery ran down.

A quick check out of the tiny window confirmed that there was no storm, not even any wind. The sun was still out, though it was fast setting, so if she put up the blinds there would be light for at least a little while.

Okay, this was weird. Maybe there was something wrong with the power-box? She chewed her lower lip slightly, wondering if she should call her apartment supervisor. She had absolutely no idea where the power-box would be and, even if by some chance she DID find it, she still would have no idea what to do with it.

She rubbed that back of her head. "Aw, forget it."

That was when her laptop seemingly decided to grow a consciousness of it's own, as the sound seemed to turn itself up to incredibly loud levels.

Cassie winced, putting her hands over her sensitive ears and rushing to her bed to turn the volume back down. "And in todays news, modern technology is rebelling in the apartment of one Cassie Andrews…." She pretended to be a newscaster as she managed to mute her computer before turning down the volume to a more reasonable level.

On the screen, the Hunter Gratzner crashed onto the un-named planet where the Grue (or bioraptors) lived underground, and that was when everything went black.


	2. More than One kind of Crash Landing

**CHAPTER ONE:**

**More Than One Kind of Crash-Landing**

**AN: Okay, I have NO idea how Riddick really got out of his little cryo-chamber. It doesn't show in the movie, so I tried the guessing game here. **

**Also, because of the WONDEROUS favorites and the reviews I received (give me more people!) here's the second chapter. **

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As he was the only one who was still awake in his supposed "cryo-sleep", the convict was the only one who saw her arrival, especially since she appeared right infront of his prison.

Now Richard B. Riddick was no stranger to strange things, but a young woman appearing seemingly out of thin air was something new even for him and, in his chains and bit, he arched an eyebrow.

`_Interesting_…..`

Through a hole in his blindfold he could see her, young and freshly washed with long, wet hair (_it could be brown or black but, as it was still wet, he couldn't tell_). The scent of chemical lavender, ink, graphite and blood greeted his nose as he breathed in her scent, even through the plexi-glass of his cryo-cage. Her clothing made him want to smirk; long and loose cloth pants with what he assumed were supposed to be a cartoon-version of kittens printed on them, a loose white shirt with long sleeves and completely bare feet.

The bare feet was what really jogged him. Bare feet as if she had been lounging around in some cool, quiet room, someplace posh and completely over-the-top. She hadn't come prepared for the Hunter Gratzner.

When the meteors started to hit, piercing the ships hull, the young woman let out an unearthly terrified scream that made the convicted killer jerk back in his restraints, wincing as the sound killed his sensitive ears. He let out a low warning growl, not that it would do much good, she probably couldn't hear him behind the glass anyway, even without her banshee-like screams.

Her feet kicked out, pushing herself backwards till she slammed into one of the cryo-chambers, hitting the back of her head hard. Despite himself, Riddick winced as she clutched at her head and curled up into a ball.

The Furyan, however, had more important things to worry about, like getting out of this stupid cryo-prison. It looked like the ship was going down, and he wasn't going to hang around long.

The ship gave another harsh jolt and Riddick went with the momentum, letting it jerk him around, his muscles limp so he could minimize the amount of damage his muscles would take. But the turbulence was doing more than jerking him around, it was also jerking his current PRISON around, and the Furyan heard something that was like music to his ears…..he heard the sound of screws loosening.

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**CASSIE**

`_I'm dreaming…..I'm dreaming...I'm dreaming…..I'm dreaming…..I'm dreaming…..this is all a dream. I knocked my head or something…_.` but it sure didn't **_FEEL_** like a dream.

She felt dry, hot wind, heard the pings of something hitting metal, the scent of exhaust, then the sound of compressed air escaped some container, almost like a tea-kettle whistling only much lower. A huge puff of funny-smelling air (_antiseptic, maybe?_) hit her face and there was the sound of something large hitting the metal floor.

When she managed to look up, her eyes still watering from the knock to the head, she saw it was man. But not just ANY man. She guessed he was around 5'11 with skin the color of very light caramel and with his hair in a severe buzz-cut. It was a man she knew. It was Richard B. Riddick.

`….._but that's impossible_…..`

She took a quick, crazed look at her surroundings. Metal. Funny-looking containers with people in them, some just starting to rouse.

`….._I've seen this before_…..`

Tubes and wiring coming out of the metal walls and again the thought; '….._impossible_…..`

Then the guy on the floor (_Riddick? Vin Diesel? Which?_) was up off of the floor despite having his feet and hands chained together, and then he was gone, bounding past her.

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**RIDDICK**

Escape.

That was all he had time for.

That was all he could focus on.

Survival.

And Richard B. Riddick was the best at survival. If this ship crashed and burned and split into a million pieces, he would still be alive. It didn't matter what happened to the fool Johns who deserved to die anyway. It didn't matter what happened to the others on the ship. It didn't matter what happened to that strange young woman who suddenly managed to appear out of no-where…..the strange woman who had hit her head hard on the ships walls….

…a hit like that could cause a concussion. Dizziness. Bruising. Headache. Even unconsciousness, internal bleeding and hematomas. Having grown up in the penal system, Riddick was surprisingly knowledgeable about head trauma…..probably because he had suffered from a bit of it in his earlier years in the slam then **_CAUSED_** even **_MORE_** of it in his later years.

He shook his own head.

This was foolish. The woman was of no consequence to him. It didn't matter if she started bleeding out of her ears. Until the ship fully crashed, he had to hide. Had to get out of these restraints…..

…..had to survive.

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CITATIONS:

Wedro, B. (n.d.). _emedicinehealth_. Retrieved from head_injury/article_


	3. Pack Part 1

**CHAPTER TWO**:

**Pack Part 1#**

**AN: To My Beloved PLOTBUNNY GUEST: Your review just made my night, both of them in both fics. I was giggling non-stop and trying not to wake my niece from her much-needed slumber. As always, you are a pure joy. THANK YOU! And the plotbunnies spell-check thing was HILARIOUS! (although my spell-check suggests it should be 'plot-bunnies') ONTO THE FIC! (hugs)**

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**RIDDICK**

He may have been chained and gagged, wrists and ankles hooked together, but that didn't mean he couldn't move. Riddick was no ordinary man. He was a Furyan. But even more, he was a survivor; a man hardened by the worst of slams, honed in the fires of the most terrible prison planets with a will stronger than steel to survive. He didn't care; didn't have the luxury of caring. After all, that was what had landed him in chains in the first place, trying to save the two kids that Johns had used to trap him; the two kids he had believed were hurt.

Riddick climbed up the metal supports of the ship, wedging himself in tight as the Hunter Gratzner pitched left and right, shaking like an empty can in a trash compactor.

Vaguely, he wondered if the girl had managed to get herself into a fairly stable position, maybe zap herself somewhere else. *&^% knew he would if he could. Of course, then, he wouldn't be on this stupid hunk of metal in the first place. And speaking of said hunk of metal…

Riddick placed one hand flat on a steel beam and took the time to take in as much of the measurements of the ship as he could with the way it lurched, recalling what he had observed when he had first been 'boarded' onto it.

The ship was a merchant vessel and combined freighter, made for carrying around odds and ends as well as people (_though not very comfortably_). `_Merchant vessel_…..` Riddick thought, remembering his intensive training in the Strikeforce Academy. `_Probably low artificial intelligence, strictly point A to point B, drag-fins. Lots of jettisons_.`

All in all, Riddick concluded, the Captain better be damned good to land the Hunter Gratzner in one piece. Of course, the Furyan knew that HE could do it, but he wasn't the one in the pilots seat.

Then something happened he didn't expect.

There was a great wrenching scream of metal and a large section of passenger cabins broke away, sending those asleep in their cryo tubes to their deaths, mercifully unknowing (_if they were lucky._)

Against his not inconsiderable will, his heart squeezed in his chest…..The girl…..What if she had wandered into the section that had been jettisoned?

It didn't matter…..

It **_SHOULDN'T_** matter…..

**_HIS_** life was the one that mattered…so…why did he find himself climbing down out of his secure position? Why did he find himself searching for that scent of chemical lavender, graphite, ink, and blood…..?

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**CASSIE**

`_I'm dreaming... I'm dreaming... I'm dreaming... I'm dreaming... I'm dreaming..._` but that idea became harder and harder to believe as she scrambled around on the slick metal floor, looking for something to grab onto, anything to keep her from continuing to be shaken like a ragdoll.

When the sound of more tearing metal came, the increasing of the wind, she watched with wide, teary eyes and gaping mouth as part of the (_building? Ship_) metal thing she was in was torn away to expose bright sand and fire and a roaring wind. Several of the tubes with people in them went flying and she only had a split second before she realized that she, too, was beginning to slide on the metal floor towards the burning and fast moving sand…..at speeds that would probably kill her, or at least rip the flesh from her bones.

`_If I close my eyes, I'll be fine….I'll be fine….I'll be fine….I'll be fine….I'll be fine_...` The random thought of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz came to her head and, in sheer desperation and, perhaps, a little craziness, she began to click her heels together, muttering under her breath. "There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like ho—"

That was when she felt it.

Warmth. Not burning sand, or the heat of crashing metal, but a bodys warmth. Just as suddenly, the wind stopped pulling at her clothes and something warm and hard and….earthy was caging her in. A cage of safety. Of warmth. No, not a cage…a **_shelter_**.

She hazarded opening her eyes and saw black cloth. Inching her eyes upward, she saw skin of lightest caramel, eyes covered by black goggles. He had managed somehow, she noticed, to remove the bit from his mouth, though his hands were still chained together. He had to have put both arms over her at the same time to hold her, and with a little bit of squirming she saw that he was holding onto some kind of metal support beam. `_Now why didn't I think of that!_?` her brain had time to chastise herself when her rescuer growled at her.

That was the best way she could describe it, his throaty voice ordering and dominant, easily heard even amid the chaos. "Hold still!"

Her body automatically froze and her rescuer, (_either Riddick himself or the actor Vin Diseal_) growled again. "Don't move, but relax your muscles! Let the motion rock you!"

She tried to do as he said…..kind of…..To be honest her brain seemed to be in a state of suspended shock, but his arms were warm and strong, steel encased in velvet, something she could be sure would keep her safe…..keep out this craziness.

Somehow, time managed to seem like centuries as well as seconds, a true paradox but, finally, the ruined ship 'The Hunter Gratzner' came to a halt. Still, the arms around her stayed and she found herself clutching onto the black muscle shirt with both hands, burying her face in the fabric.

Then the arms were gone.

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**RIDDICK**

There.

She was still alive. It was the most anyone could ask for, really. He had done his good deed for the rest of his existence, as far as he was concerned, and just watch if this one didn't come back to bite him in the ass.

The dust still swirled around them, though the ship had stopped moving…..probably forever. Surveying the damage, Riddick decided there was no 'probably' about it. The ship would not be flying again.

So he was stuck here for the time being, with the fool of a blue-eyed devil and that strange young woman who could appear out of nowhere like a magic trick.

`_Pack_…..` the thought flickered through his brain like a whisper, a breath of soft air against his ear. He shook it from his mind like a dog would an annoying fly. He was a loner. Always had been, always would be. It was stupid and dangerous to do otherwise.

Still, the thought wouldn't leave his mind.

`….._Pack_…..`

**CITATIONS**:

Hunter gratzner. In _Riddick Wiki_. Wikia. Retrieved from wiki/Hunter_Gratzner

Richard b. riddick. In _Richard B. Riddick_. Wikia. Retrieved from wiki/Richard_B._Riddick

Riddick wiki. In _Alpha Furyan_. Wikia. Retrieved from wiki/Alpha_Furyan


	4. Breathe

**CHAPTER THREE:**

**Breathe**

_`I'm still alive_…..` she sat on the metal floor of the ruined ship, hugging her knees to her chest, breathing, focusing on the simple mechanics of breathing. In…Out…..In…..Out…..In….. Fill the lungs with air, refuel the body, expel carbon dioxide. `_I'm still alive_….`

She heard others moving around back in the parts of the ship that were still intact; survivors finding other survivors. Searching.

`….._and I'm still insane_.`

Well…..if this was a dream (_and if it WAS, it was a pretty realistic dream_) she might as well just go with the flow. And if it wasn't…..

….if it wasn't.

She shook her head. She'd deal with that later. Carefully, slowly, she managed to get to her feet and started to head towards the voices, picking her way carefully to try to avoid scraps of metal.

Cassie arrived to the others right when young Jack was freed from his/her cryo-tube and shot the masquerading teen a warm smile. `_Ah Jack…..one of my favorite characters.`_

Shazza who had just finished opening the tube, shot her a look, her long brown hair a mess of curls. "Oh, another survivor. Good to see. I'm Shazza." The Australian voiced woman held out a tanned hand for hers to shake which she took, grasping warmly.

"Cassie."

"So I guess something went wrong?" Young Jack stated from the floor, looking around above her.

Both Shazza and Cassie reached down to take the girls hands and help her up to her feet.

"Yeah, you could say that." Cassie said dryly.

Jack blinked at her, looking her up and down. "Why aren't you wearing shoes?" then she snorted mockingly. "Nice pants."

Cassie reached out and playfully knocked the teen in the back of the head. "Heah, be nice, hon."

Shazza eyed her speculatively. "I don't remember seeing you when we boarded."

Cassie snorted. "Yeah, I was kind of a…last minute addition." `_Extremely last minute_.`

"Why **_ARE_** you dressed like that?" Shazza asked and Cassie fumbled frantically in her mind for an answer.

`_Think, Cassie, THINK!`_

Then a loud bellow made them all jump.

`….._And saved by the scream_.`

"GET IT OUTTA ME!"

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The scream was almost incoherent, desperate, and Cassie felt shivers run down her spine. She didn't want to see. Didn't want to see the man with the pole through his chest. On screen was one thing, then it was an actor dolled up with excellent make-up techniques and fake blood. But this blood, she knew, wouldn't be fake. These screams weren't the result of honed acting skills.

She debated going in the opposite direction. She didn't want to see this, didn't want to deal. But then there was the blonde mercenary fellow, the one pretending to be cop…..the one hooked on drugs…..Hadn't his drugs been hidden inside something like bullet-shells?

Her thoughts were still kind of scattered…..fuzzy…..Would the merc have his 'stash' on him or would it be hidden somewhere? Could she even manage to get the morphine in the hurt captain before he died?

"Okay, towards the screams then." She winced and tried to steel herself for what she was about to witness.

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**RIDDICK**

Time.

Precious time.

Time he had wasted shielding the girl…..no, the young woman…..keeping her from falling out of the ship to her death. Time he could have spent finding a way to break out of these chains. The bit he was able to remove easily enough; finding a piece of jutting metal and using it as a lever to carefully ease it out of his mouth and down so that it now looked like he was wearing a necklace; the latest in murderer fashion. Now he just had to worry about the chains.

That was when he heard the screams.

"GET IT OUTTA ME!"

The Furyan only glanced down once. Sounded like another survivor had been found, only this one wasn't in very good shape. He ignored the screams in favor of concentrating on the chains, when his sharp ears distinguished another sound…..

Slowly…..carefully…..quietly…and as deadly as the predator he was, Riddick looked down to see the blue-eyed devil himself, come looking for his catch…

Well, his catch was about to catch him.

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**JOHNS**

Richard B. Riddick was worth a lot of money. Billions if he could get him to the correct slam…..a slam that would actually hold him, that is. Hubble Bay Penal Facility, Ribbald S. Correctional Institution, Tangiers Penal Colony, Butcher Bay, Ursa Luna, among many others, could not hold the infamous Riddick. But Riddicks inability to remain caged is partly what made him worth so much. And Johns needed the money.

That's why he was currently stalking in the ruined ship, gun drawn, all senses alert, looking for his prey…and that's when Riddick suddenly dropped half-way from the ceiling and looped his ankle chains around Johns neck, attempting to strangle him.

Quickly, the fake-cop unfurled his baton and began beating the convict with it, forcing Riddick to fall. It looked like Johns was going to continue hitting him but, instead, he smirked. "Somebody's gonna get hurt one of these days." He muttered. "And it ain't gonna be me."

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**CASSIE**

She had seen the movie 'Pitch Black' probably hundreds of times, and never had the death of the Captain made her physically ill. Of course, then, it had been a movie. Nothing real, just hit rewind and Captain Owens would be perfectly fit, ready to die again.

Only this time there was no rewind, and even if there was who would even have the remote?

Cassie clapped her hands over her mouth and almost forgot to breath, becoming dizzy, completely unaware of the two pairs of eyes on her; Johns who was trying to figure out whether or not he had seen her board, and Riddick, with the bit back in his mouth and ripped blindfold around his eyes, watching her.

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**RIDDICK P.O.V**

Well, she's still standing.

The blonde woman yells for morphine for the dying man, but another reports that it's gone. I look over at Johns. Yeah, I just bet it's gone, hidden in the blue-eyed-devils private stock.

My eyes flicker back to the girl who appeared here, her long hair a beginning-to-dry tangle around her shoulders. Why would her hair be wet? But I quickly disregard that observation when I notice something more…..worrying.

…..It doesn't look like the girl's breathing.

`_Come on, woman, breathe_!` I try to 'think' at her, letting out a low, commanding growl. Johns turns to me and arches an eyebrow at me, smirking.

"Somethin' wrong, boy?"

Oh yeah, Johns, go ahead and treat me like a dog. We'll see who gets the last laugh.

The pressure in my wrists brings my attention to the fact that I've been straining against the chains, unconsciously trying to get free. But now's not the time. Not when everyone's right **_there_**.

Something's wrong.

I shouldn't be feeling this way about some strange woman…..about **_any_** woman.

`….._pack_…..`

Let alone thinking of her as pack.


	5. Making An Enemy

**CHAPTER FOUR:**

**Making An Enemy**

**AN: I know it's short, but here's another chapter. I love all the favs and follows, but reviews are even better. PRETTY PLEASE!**

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"DON'T TOUCH IT! DON'T! DON'T YOU TOUCH THAT HANDLE!" the dying Captain screamed and Riddick growled again when he noticed tears in the womans eyes. The fool was upsetting his packmate…..wait….what was that about a handle?

Riddick looked at the blonde pilots face and saw the guilt. `….._Interesting_…..` He thought back to how a good deal of the ship had been jettisoned. `….._So it was blondie who did that_…..`

"Get it out of him!" the tanned settler exclaimed.

"No, no, no, it's too close to his heart."

"There's some Anestaphine in the med-lock in the back of the cabin." The blonde woman said.

"Not anymore there isn't."

That was when something happened that surprised him. His packmate…..no…..no….the woman said quietly; "Give it to him."

The blonde pilot looked at the brunette in sheer frustration. "What!?"

But 'Miss-Appear-Out-of-Nowhere' was looking at Johns.

`….._Very interesting_…..`

"Morphine….." the brunette said, still looking at Johns, her voice still quiet. "Aneste-whatever-you-called-it. He has some." She nodded her head at the blue-eyed devil.

Riddick cocked an eyebrow. The girl knew Johns was a hype.

Blondie looked to Johns. "Is this true?"

The merc glared at the brunette, his blue eyes flashing fire. "She doesn't know what she's talking about."

"It's in the bullet case-thingys." The brunette continued, wide eyes back to the bleeding, dying captain. "In the red box."

Johns hands tightened into fists convulsively and he started forward.

Riddick let out a warning growl, pulling at his chains again, all thoughts of biding his time evaporating. If Johns took one more step towards her…..

"Look, if you have some morphine, HAND IT OVER!" the blonde demanded and Riddick smirked when Johns stumbled a little.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about." The merc denied again. "The crash must have shaken her up. How would she even know a thing like that?"

Now **_THAT_** was a good question, Riddick realized. How **_DID_** the woman know about Johns secret stash? He could add the question right next to the one where he wanted to know how the **** she had managed to appear out of nowhere.

The dying pilot screamed again.

That's when the brunette, his packmate, did something either very stupid or very brave, perhaps both. She launched herself at Johns, all kitten pajamas and long hair, fumbling at his belt for the red box.

That was when Johns sealed his fate.

He backhanded her.

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**CASSIE**

Stars.

She saw stars.

Little flashes of light dancing across her vision. Pink elephants. Hefelumps and woozles.

She hit the floor of the ship hard, hearing cries of indignation, a low, animal growl, the promise of death.

"You b*stard, why did you do that!?" someone, she thought it was Jack, exclaimed.

"WHAT is WRONG with you!?" that was Shazza.

And underneath it all was that low, rumbling, threatening growl.

"Bad move Johns." Riddick said, his words part of his growl. But no-one was paying attention to him. All eyes were on the 'cop' Johns.

"This is helping no-one." The Holy Man Imam said firmly, stepping up with restraining hands on his sons shoulders. "If you have something that can ease this mans pain then, please, give it to him."

Johns took a deep breath and looked down at the impaled man. "No need. He's already dead."


	6. Who's Your Alpha?

**CHAPTER FIVE:**

**Who's Your Alpha?**

**10:32pm on 10/10/2013**

**Just finished another chapter. Here you go guys! And, by the by, in-case you haven't noticed, I don't really like Carolyn. I think I'm jealous because Riddick likes her, so be warned there is Carolyn Fry bashing in this fic. Enjoy and review!**

**PS: Can't sleep.**

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Carolyns hands fisted in the dead mans jacket, staring resolutely down at the man who had been the Captain, anger and grief warring with each other.

"Boys, go outside." Imam gently ushered his children out of the ship with the parting comment that they would pray for the deceased Captain and a glare for Johns.

Jack went and knelt beside the injured Cassie. "Heah, are you okay?"

"My ears are ringing, but I think I'm okay." Cassie responded, gritting her teeth together, glaring up at Johns as she stood carefully. "Whoa, dizzy." She wavered a little on her feet and Jack helped steady her.

Riddick growled low again and managed to spit the bit back out, adding orders. "Sit down." He glared at Cassie, showing who he was talking to, his voice low, throaty and demanding…..completely alpha. Eyes wide and jaw dropped, Cassie sat down before she could even truly think about the action.

The Furyan then looked at Carolyn. "He's dead. Move on. Food, water, an idea of where we are; that's what we need to focus on now."

Johns lurched forward, aiming a kick at the chained Riddick when both Shazza and Zeke lunged forward as well, catching the mercenary by the shoulders and yanking him back.

"Whoa, easy now." Zeke said, his Australian voice low.

Shazza, however, wasn't as gentle. "Do you really have morphine? And you didn't give it to him!?"

Cassie was looking at Riddick, pondering. `_It may just be the knock to the head, but I could've sworn in the movie Riddick was chained up further back.`_ She swore she could feel her heart stutter in her chest. `_Have I already changed the timeline!?`_ She chewed on her lower lip.

This could be a very good thing (_as in perhaps she could save many people_) or this could be a very bad thing (_as in she may have just inadvertently killed them all off.)_

But Riddick continued; "We should get to the radiators, drain out as much water as we can, that should help hold us till we find another source of water."

"Excuse me!" Carolyn interrupted, almost growling herself. "I'm the Captain here!"

Riddick arched an eyebrow.

Everyone looked—however briefly—from the chained convict to the 'Captain'. Jacks eyes were as big as dinner-plates and Cassie's jaw was still somewhere on the floor. Amusement glittered in Shazzas also surprised eyes and Zeke was just quietly watchful.

"I…..I need a moment alone." Carolyn growled. "Everyone get out."

Riddick took the time to add another order. "And check on the womans head." He nodded towards Cassie who was still on the floor.

"OUT!" Carolyn practically screamed.

Cassie jumped and winced at the noise, but Zeke let go of Johns and then leaned down and took her elbow, helping her up while he looked meaningfully at Riddick.

Riddick gave the free-settler a curt nod, understanding that the man would do as he asked and curiously grateful for it.

Shazza wrapped an arm around Jacks shoulders, leading her out as well. "Come on, guys."

Another man, dressed in a rather ostentatious red and gold velvet shirt named Paris turned and left as well and the group, minus Riddick, the dead Captain, and Carolyn left the ship.

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**RIDDICK**

I don't know what's gotten into me.

It doesn't matter whether or not these people survive, whether or not they manage to find food and water on this dustball (_from what I've seen so far_) of a planet. It's survival of the fittest; natures way. If you're not tough enough, you're dead.

So why am I trying to knock some sense into these stupid sheep!? Why am I spelling it out for them? If they have enough brains, they should be able to do it. I can tell by the look on blondies face that she hadn't thought of the water in the radiator, but the pups need it the most, you over-heat fast in a place like this, and if I hadn't have mentioned it would any of **_them_** have thought of it?

I can't help but snort.

I doubt it.

Blondie looks up at me, obviously trying to look fierce, but she can't be all there, as her next statement proves; "Leave me alone for a minute."

I don't roll my eyes, but it's a near thing. Instead, I pull on the chains, making them clank loudly. "Not like I've got freedom of movement here, girlie."

She has the sense, at least, to look embarrassed.

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**THE OTHERS**

The instant they stepped outside of the ship the sun hit them with the force of a freighter.

Cassie hissed an immediately clapped a hand over her glasses, shutting her eyes. "Oh boy."

Jack squinted, looking around. "It's all desert."

"We should form a searching-party." Shazza suggested, giving Jack a reassuring, one-armed hug. "See if we can find any more survivors."

Zeke lead Cassie over to a shady spot near the ship and gently pressed down on her shoulders. "Sit down and let me get a look at your head."

"I"ll be fine," Cassie tried to wave him away with a glare at Johns. "Though I'll probably look like Frankenstein in a few minutes."

"Who?" Shazza asked, looking over at her.

Surprisingly, it was the man in the red and gold shirt who answered. "She's talking about a monster in a famous book back in Old Earth. A mad scientist made his own man by putting together parts of dead bodies." He walked up to Shazza and offered his hand. "Paris P. Ogilvie, antiquities dealer."

Shazza took the offered hand and shook it briefly, giving a smile. "Shazza." She nodded towards Zeke who was ignoring Cassie's assurances that she would be fine and was running his hand over the back of her head. "That's my husband Zeke."

Zeke looked over and gave a nod.

"And I'm Jack." The young girl/boy offered cheerfully, as chipper as a chipmunk.

Cassie raised a hand up in the air like she was back in elementary school. "Cassie."

"I am Imam." The holy man said, joining him with his three children. "And these are my boys, Ali, Suleiman, and Hassan."

Johns scowled, resisting the urge to kick at the sand. His reputation, he knew, had already been severely damaged by that b**ches knowledge of his morphine, he couldn't risk making his image any worse. He was smart enough that he knew when to bide his time. The girls knowledge about his stash, though, had been surprising and unbelievable…unbelievable as in there was no way she should have known.

The mercenary was jolted out of his thoughts when young Jack scrambled past him and began climbing up the outside of the crashed Hunter Gratzner like a monkey.

"Kid, what do you think you're doing!?" Johns demanded, not really caring, but seeing a way to perhaps salvage a little of his 'good-cop' image.

"Getting a look around!" Jack called back, reaching the top and standing up straight. The kid let out a low whistle as she shielded her eyes with her hands.

"What do you see!?" Shazza called up, watching the child.

"I don't think we're gonna need to make a rescue party!" was the childs foreboding answer.

Zeke and Shazza exchanged worried glances and Johns began to climb up the side of the ship.

"Stay here." The Australian Free-Settler Zeke ordered Cassie, pointing to the ground. "If we had any ice, I'd tell you to put it on your head, but right now it doesn't look like you have a concussion. Just a nasty knot."

Cassie waved him away. "Sit here. Got it. Go see what the others are looking at." Indeed, Imam and his three boys had already scrambled up the side of the ship the same way Jack had gone and Shazza was going up just as quickly. Paris, however, walked over and sat down beside her.

"How **_DID_** you know about Johns morphine, if he does indeed have it, that is."

Cassie let out a low groan and slowly put her head in her hands. "Do you have to ask me that now?"

"Well, I don't see why not." Paris put in, adjusting his newsboy cap. "And why aren't you wearing any shoes?"

Cassie stuck her tongue out at him.

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**RIDDICK**

The Furyan had no patience for the Captain Carolyn. While she was sitting so close, in immediate eye-range, he couldn't escape his bonds without her crying out for help, and it might take a little time to do so. But how long was the woman going to sit there!?

There was silence for a few minutes while Riddick subtly tested the chains for any weaknesses (_might as well stay productive_) until Carolyn said. "You're heartless."

"No, I'm a survivor." Riddick growled at her, just a touch frustrated. "Johns is the heartless one. Or did you forget that he didn't give your friend there any morphine?"

Quick as a cat, Carolyn was on her feet and reacting. Her hand lashed out and she slapped the chained Riddick.

The Furyan showed no sign of pain, but started a low, rumbling growl that automatically had the blonde woman backing up. "I'll forgive that one 'cause your friend just died." Riddick told her, his voice dark and threatening. "But don't do it again."

Carolyn shifted on her feet, trying to find a mental balance again. "Why are you chained up, anyways? Who are you?"

"Don't know your own passengers?" Riddick asked, his voice mockingly amused. "Not a very good Captain now, are you."

Carolyn slapped him again. To the blonde woman it felt good, a way of regaining her sense of control, regardless of whether or not it was the right thing to do. Infact, she hauled back, ready to let him have it again, but this time Riddick fought back.

His hands were, once again, chained behind his back, but his legs at least had semi-movement and he kicked out hard, knocking her face back and maybe even breaking her nose.

The woman was out for the count.

"You have NO idea who you're messin' with." The Furyan told the unconscious woman before he began working on the chains again.


	7. The NeedsOf Survival -He made me Shoes!

**CHAPTER SIX**:

**The Needs of Survival**

** /or/**

**He Made Me Shoes!**

**AN: 2:09am. Can't sleep.**

**And I have to work today.**

**I have a feeling this isn't going to go well. (meaning work)**

**Erg. But here's another chapter for you guys!**

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Free yet again, Richard B. Riddick sat down to contemplate on his next steps. He wasn't about to go out and join the others. All any of them knew of him was that he had been in a cryo chamber with a warning label, and that didn't exactly gather trust. He didn't need to be shot by some paranoid survivor.

`_Food. Water. Shelter. Weapons_.` The needs of survival were simple…except when they weren't, and all of his senses were telling him that there was danger here. He could hear it; the sounds of something underground. A scurrying, scuttling sound.

`_Weapons_…..` It wasn't like there were any guns lying around haphazardly, but Riddick was a master at crafting prison knives (_called shivs_) and there was plenty of broken metal everywhere. Quickly, he had two shivs ready and hidden in his boots, not made out of bone or ivory like his favorite, but they would do in a pinch.

Next, he set to work tying up the passed-out Captain. It wouldn't do at all if the frail managed to beam him in the back of the head or something. Then he really **_WOULD_** kill her.

Once the blonde-haired woman was chained to the same metal pillar he himself had been chained to, Riddick turned to the next necessity-`_Water_`-and headed towards the ships radiator.

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**THE OTHERS**;

"What the heck happened?" Zeke asked no-one in particular as he stood atop the ruined ship and surveyed the damage, the dead bodies, and the long groove the ship had left.

Cassie, hearing him, pressed a hand to her forehead and called up. "We flew through the tail of a comet, that's what happened!"

They all looked down at her. Shazza jumped down the side of the ship nimbly and looked at the young woman. "And how on earth would you know that?"

"Because I was awake during it." Cassie mentioned, glad that she didn't have to yell anymore. She stood very carefully, placing a hand on the ship when she wobbled. When Zeke slid down the ships side to stand by his wife, Cassie jabbed a finger in his direction. "And you, **_YOU_** are going to **_STAY AWAY FROM HOLES_**. Got it?"

With that parting shot she started to move back into the ship.

Zeke and Shazza looked at each other and the Australian woman shrugged. "How hard do you think she hit her head?"

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**CASSIE**

When she managed to wobble her way back into the ship she came upon a scene she definitely **_HADN'T_** thought she would see; Carolyn Fry all chained up with a broken nose.

Cassie stopped in her tracks and blinked, rubbed her eyes and blinked again. When the scene didn't change, she cautiously made her way in. "Oookay, **_not_** what I was expecting, but okay." The sounds of metal being unscrewed made her look over to see Riddick who was pulling off a vent and looking down inside of the ship wall.

The convict looked over at her and arched an eyebrow.

For a minute or two neither moved, simply studying the other, then Riddick looked back to what he was doing. "Did that man check your head?"

She started to nod, thought better of it, and instead gave a verbal response. "Yeah. I've got a knot the size of a chicken egg."

The convict eased the vent down onto the ships floor then turned his full attention to her. "Come'ere."

The man **_WAS_** intimidating. Six feet of solid muscle radiating a kind of dominating aura, like he could take on ten-thousand war ships and win in minutes without even a scratch. Like some primitive animal from bygone times, top of the food-chain.

"Like what ya see?"

Riddicks voice was now slightly teasing and she blushed, snapping herself out of her little admiring show.

"Come'ere."

She went.

Long, calloused fingers brushed the back of her head with surprising gentleness, feeling the knot. "Dizzy?" he asked the question still in that no-nonsense alpha timbre.

Cassie shrugged. "A little, but not too much."

"Head hurt?"

She snorted. "Heck yeah."

She could feel her face beginning to swell from the hit Johns had landed on her face and winced. A soft growl made her eyes snap open again.

"Stay away from Johns." He made it an order and she blinked at him.

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee how well that'll work out."

"Just stay away from him." He nodded his head towards the radiator. "There's water in there for you in the others. Make sure you drink some. Don't let that merc hog it all."

She looked over at the radiator and nodded. "Okay."

"And," Riddick continued, " know we're not finished.".

Cassie blinked at him, more than a little confused. "Wait, what?"

Then Riddicks fingers dug into pressure points on her neck and everything went black.

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**RIDDICK**

Her entire body went limp into unconsciousness and he caught her up in his arms easily before easing her onto the ground with a gentleness he hadn't intended.

"Can't have you telling the others where I've gone. Nothin' personal." He informed her comatose form. He frowned when he realized that one of his hands was smoothing back her long hair and quickly stopped the motion before rising.

He was about to search for a container to fill with water when he noticed her feet again. . . . .Her bare feet. . . . . Growling to himself the convict seemed to be fighting an inner battle, dancing with indecision. Finally, he went over to the dead captains corpse and ripped off his vest without ceremony. Pulling out one of his newly made shivs, Riddick began to slice the vest up into strips before kneeling down to wipe the sand off of the bottom of her feet then wrap the fabric around her feet till she wore some make-shift shoes.

"Don't know why I'm even bothering." He mumbled to himself as he finished, standing and moving back to the radiator to drink. Cupping his hands, he quickly took several large mouthfuls of the metallic water before moving to make a container. An empty cylinder from part of the ship made a good water bottle and he had just finished filling it when he heard the heavy tread of boots. Male.

The scent of morphine came next.

Johns. The blue-eyed devil.

And just like that, Riddick was gone like a shadow when the sun went behind a cloud.

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…..only he wasn't really gone.

Perched up in the ceiling of the ruined ship, carefully holding his cylinder of water, Riddick watched as the mercenary took in the scene, gun drawn.

Johns cursed a blue-streak under his breath when he saw the blonde woman chained up, but didn't immediately drop his gun to rush to her aide. He noticed the other woman, Cassie, the strange one, next, lying on the floor with cloth wrapped around her feet, then the removed vent on the floor.

Gun still at the ready, the mercenary did a sweep of the immediate ship (even if he had looked up, Riddick would have been tough to spot) before he peered into the radiator vent.

Giving off a grin that would put a jackal to shame, the greedy mercenary immediately began cupping handfuls of water up to his mouth to drink.

Riddick barely contained his growl, his free hand going down to unsheathe his shivs. The water should be going to the pups first, then the women, but obviously the mercenary had no sense of ….._pack_.

After he had drunk his fill, Johns moved towards the prone form of Cassie and Riddick readied himself to pounce, only Shazza, Zeke, and Paris chose that time to conveniently walk into the remains of the ship.

Convenient for who, Riddick couldn't quite decide. On one hand, he didn't get to ghost the mercenary, on the other hand the woman remained unharmed.

Shazza gasped when she beheld the chained Carolyn and Zeke cursed.

"What the ***** happened here!?" Zeke demanded.

Johns moved away from the radiator, probably not wanting to give up the source of the water, Riddick thought. Greedy b*stard.

"Riddick." The Mercenary growled low. "Knocked out Carolyn and Cassie. Who knows where he is now."

Shazza looked at Cassie on the floor then Carolyn chained up with a bloody nose as Zeke moved to try to unchain their 'Captain'.

The Free-Settler woman knelt down to Cassie's side and gently began shaking her shoulder. "Heah, come on sweetheart, wake up."

Up in the rafters, Riddick barely contained his own growl. The woman shouldn't be shaken like that. The pressure points he had used wouldn't cause any problems, but being jerked around during the ships crash then hit by Johns and now shaken couldn't be helping her head-ache at all.

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**CASSIE**

Cassie groaned and opened her eyes slowly, half expecting to find herself on the floor of her bedroom, maybe after running into a table or rolling off of her bed and hitting her head on the floor. Instead, she saw Shazzas concerned face and the ceiling of the ship.

What on earth had happened!?

"Careful now, sweetheart." Shazza said soothingly.

Then her memories came rushing back. Riddick had made her pass out; he had checked her head, told her about the water, then made her pass out. The feeling of added cloth made her look down. Apparently, Riddick had taken the time to wrap her feet as well.

Well, if those weren't mixed signals, she didn't know what were!

"Are you alright?" Shazza asked, snapping her fingers infront of Cassie's face. "Oy, are you in there?"

Cassie instead fought a smile and pointed at her wrapped feet. "He made me shoes!"


	8. Word Vomit

**CHAPTER SEVEN**:

Word Vomit

Shazza looked at Cassie's feet back to Cassie, then to Johns then back to Cassie before giving a wide smile. "Who, Johns?" she looked to the cop in slight approval. Maybe the guy wasn't such a jack*ss after all.

Johns gave a modest smile and ran a hand over his blonde hair, but Cassie snorted and destroyed the illusion before Johns could preen too much.

"No, not Johns, Riddick."

Shazza blinked at her. "You're telling me that the escaped convict beat up Carolyn, knocked you out and then wrapped your feet?" her voice just over-flowed with skepticism. "Maybe Zeke should look at your head again."

Cassie rolled her eyes and sighed. "Riddick also showed me the water in the radiator." She pointed to where the vent was opened.

Johns made quite a show of going over and peering into the radiator. "Well, would you look at that! That's quite a find, little miss."

Cassie looked at him as if he had suddenly sprouted bunny ears and a pink tutu. "Did you seriously just call me little miss?" He just **_HAD_** to be kidding. "And I didn't find it, Riddick did. He showed it to me."

"Riddick **_is_** the one who said to use the radiator for water." Zeke spoke up from where he finished unchaining the blonde captain. The Australian eyed the mercenary/cop with suspicion.

"That's right, he did." Shazza mused, almost sounding as if she were talking to herself.

Johns growled. He actually growled, but it didn't have the desired effect. After hearing Riddicks alpha timbre, Johns just sounded like a kitten trying to be a lion. "You guys are giving Riddick too much credit. He's a killer! I've been chasing him around from planet to planet for years. Do you have any idea how many people he's offed!?"

Cassie simply blinked at him. "Only those who've attacked him first."

Johns gritted his teeth as he stalked towards her. "You need to take off those rose-colored glasses of yours, sweetheart, and wake up."

Cassie growled right back, her hands unconsciously turning into fists. "I'm not stupid, Johns. I know Riddicks no saint. I know he's a survivor and a murderer. But I also know he has a code of honor, I know….." she paused and bit her lower lip for a minute. "…..I know….I know I trust him. And I also know if we wanna get off this planet alive we'll need him."

Johns scoffed at her. "What, are you afraid of getting sun-tanned to death?"

Cassie snapped her teeth at him, almost an animalistic, biting gesture. "There's more here than sun, you jerk, what we have to worry about is underground."

Johns moved closer. "And how would you know that, huh? And by the way, how did you manage to sneak onto the ship without anyone of us noticing, there are programs installed to prevent stowaways. Why are you dressed like you're ready for bed? How did you know about…..about the comet tail? I think you're hiding something."

Cassie winced.

Seeing weakness, perhaps even sensing it in some small way, Johns attacked. But it wasn't a completely obvious attack; he crouched down to her level, his voice soft, blue eyes slightly hazed. "What are you hiding? Unless it's something bad, what reason do you have to keep anything from us? We're all in this together, **_little miss_**, whether we like it or not."

Shazza looked puzzled from the girl to Johns.

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**CASSIE**

`_What to do, what to do, what to do_.`

Panic had turned into a living, breathing entity, a monster clawing at her chest, squeezing her lungs in a paralyzing grip.

Well, she could do what she usually did; she could tell the truth and be labeled completely insane, possibly to be put in chains.

She could lie…..that option, however, may not even count as an option. She couldn't lie to save her life. Maybe a half truth? A loop-hole?

`_Come on Cassie, girl….._` she thought to herself. `_You can do loop-holes in your sleep. THINK girl!`_

But her brain, jostled in the crash and slapped around by Johns-that jerk- was currently on strike. No brilliant ideas created a sonic boom in her head, no flashes of insight. A random quote, however, did manage to make its way into her head.

'_My mind works like lightning…..one brilliant flash and it's gone_.'

Yeah…..like that was helpful.

Okay, so…..the truth?

Well…..if she **_DID_** tell the truth there was an absolute guarantee that her words would be proven once the eclipse happened…..well…..proven to a point. A hard-core doubter would always find reasons to doubt, even if the truth was staring them right in the face.

`_Okay, tell then_.` With that decided, she opened her mouth and began the process of what she called 'word vomit'. "You're not going to believe me; infact, you're probably going to think I'm completely insane, but time will prove my words.

There are creatures on this planet, deep underground. They can't stand the light. Any kind of light hurts them."

Johns broke into her flow of 'word vomit' with a raised hand. "Well, if that's true then we all should be completely safe, considering this planet has three (3) suns."

Cassie rolled her eyes, exasperated. "If you would let me **_FINISH_**."

Johns made a motion with his hand, obviously humoring her.

"At any other time, I would say yes, you're safe, but every twenty or so years the planets line up juuuust right and there's a year long eclipse, a year of darkness where those THINGS run free and it's feeding time."

"And you know this how?" Zeke asked, his eyes narrowed.

Cassie winced. "And here comes the part where I would normally hope and pray you don't throw me into a nut-hatch…..I guess it's a good thing there are no insane asylums on this planet."

Shazza gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze, but she looked very concerned about her sanity right now.

"You guys have probably noticed my…..uh…..sleeping attire." She motioned to her kitty pajamas and loose white T. "That's because before I 'appeared' on this ship" she made little quotation marks in the air with her fingers. "I was at home in my apartment fresh from a shower after a very stressful day at school. I was watching one of my favorite movies called 'Pitch Black'; a movie that I am currently in right now."

Before any of them could say anything, she spoke quicker, anxious to get it all out before someone found a convenient straight jacket and strapped her in it.

"That's how I know you're a morphine addict," she nodded her head towards Johns. "and how you have the morphine hidden in bullet shells in a red box. That's how I know about the eclipse and the monsters and that there's a settlement building near here where some geologists worked until an eclipse happened and the monsters got them. That's how I know there's a skiff at that settlement that we can use if we exchange power cells, but we've gotta get crackin'. . . . .NOW."

Total silence.

Cassie had a moment to wonder if she had managed to break everyones brains in the room.


	9. The PeAnUt Gallery

**CHAPTER EIGHT**:

**The Peanut Gallery**

**AN:**

**To Mel: Let's see if I can salvage this in your opinion, eh? If not (waves hand) feel free to hate on. Or dislike on. Or however you want to put it. Er, thanks for your review?**

**…..wow, how much did I mess THAT up?**

**PS: I WAS going to make this longer, but it was either a longer chapter or a faster update...I chose faster update.**

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Hidden up in the beams of the ruined ship, Richard B. Riddick listened to the strange womans tale and watched the expressions of the people down below as they confirmed what he would have thought himself; they believed the girl to be insane.

He would have believed this as well except…..except he had seen her appear out of nowhere and **_HIS_** senses, unlike a normal human, couldn't be tricked. One minute Riddick had been in a cryo tube in a crashing ship and then-boom-the woman had turned up.

`_She shouldn't have told them the truth_…..` he growled in his head. He watched with mounting anger as the two free settlers and Johns exchanged careful looks. No doubt they were thinking about how crazy this woman could be, wondering whether or not she should be restrained.

That was when the Captain Carolyn Fry chose to make her way back to the land of the conscious.

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**CAROLYN FRY**

Her dreams had been nightmares; crashing ships and burning flames while people who were on fire clawed at her with burning nails, screaming at her to save them.

Captain Owens voice reverberated in the whole dream; '_DON'T YOU TOUCH THAT! DON'T YOU TOUCH THAT HANDLE!_' Her head thrashed to the side, worsening her headache. Her nose throbbed.

She groaned.

"Carolyn? Carolyn, can you hear me?"

That was Johns voice. The cop.

She opened her eyes slowly, wincing at the light. "What happened?"

Johns face floated above hers till her vision cleared. "Riddick happened." The cop told her, his voice angry. "Then we had a little discussion with the little miss over there." Johns nodded his head in Cassies direction. " She seems to believe she knows what's going to happen because we're actually part of a movie."

Carolyn blinked, unsure of whether or not she had heard correctly. "What?" her voice sounded off and nasally to her. Oh, right…..the convict had broken her nose.

A flush of pure anger made her more aware. That ******* was going to PAY once she got her hands on him. Wait…..what was that about a movie? She swallowed hard and managed out; "…..what?"

She heard Johns say; "Okay, maybe if we clean you up you'll be more coherent."

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Cassie sighed and began to stand up slowly, rubbing the back of her head. "We should get the kids in here so they can drink first. All the little ones."

Just then Jack decided to make his/her appearance, her face curious. "Heah, there you guys are. That guy who loves old stuff says he has something we can dri—what happened to her!?" Jack had just spotted Carolyn who was looking around blurrily, still taking in her surroundings.

Cassie, however, responded before anyone else could. "What Paris has to drink is booze in an Egyptian coffin. Not something you need when you're thirsty in a desert."

They all looked at her and Cassie rolled her eyes, moving over to the kid and ushering her towards the radiator. "Go on now, drink."

"How do you know what the guy has is booze?" Jack asked with the curiosity of a child.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She motioned to the others. "They don't."

Johns scoffed. "That's because there's no way what you believe **_CAN_** be true."

Now Jack looked even **_MORE_** curious, if that was possible, and Cassie had to give her another gentle nudge towards the radiator, rolling her eyes. "**_Drink_** already, Jack!"

"Alright, alright!" Jack rolled her eyes with the kind of petulance only teenagers can manage and moved towards the radiator, cupping her hands to get at the water.

Johns, in the meantime, had wet a spare rag he had on him and was cleaning Carolyns face. He couldn't have been very gentle, however, because the Captain kept batting his hand away and growling at him. Eventually, her growls turned into cussing him out.

"Stop it, you stupid b******!"

Forgetting himself, Johns threw the rag on the floor. "Fine! Clean yourself up then!"

Everyone looked at him.

Cassie could have sworn she heard a chuckle coming from the ceiling and she just barely stopped herself from looking up. There was only one person she knew of who could possibly be up there and that was Riddick and, if it was Riddick up there, she didn't want anyone else noticing him.

Johns cleared his throat. "Alright, get everyone else in her to drink, then we'll take inventory and go have a look around."

"There's a boneyard with trees and a settlement. Other than that, not much."

Johns shouldered his way past her, purposefully bumping into her. "I didn't ask for input from the peanut gallery."


	10. Telling Jack

**CHAPTER NINE:**

**Telling Jack**

**AN:**

**Here ya go guys. Another chapter. And I'm POOPED from work. **

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**RIDDICK**

Riddick just barely concealed his growl as he watched the merc shoulder his way past the young woman. Johns was just racking up debts…..debts that would eventually be paid. The Furyan convict thought back to how the merc had clumsily attempted to wipe up the Captains face; the guy didn't even know how to properly clean his own packmate!

Then there was that "boy" Jack, the pup who reeked of blood. Riddick snorted. That "boy" wasn't a boy, but a girl, and one that would need to get some meat in her soon to replace the blood she was losing.

This time the growl that Riddick let out was aimed at himself. The only person he had to worry about was himself! Not some pup on her way to becoming a woman, not some woman who could appear out of thin air, not some brown-skinned free settler who had followed his orders…..that one would make a good beta, provided he could be loyal and trustworthy to the right people.

No, the only one Richard B. Riddick would be taking care of was Richard B. Riddick….only even **_HE_** wasn't even buying what his mind was selling.

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**ZEKE AND SHAZZA**

The Free-Settler couple walked close to each other as they made their way out of the ruined ship to go see Paris's find which, as Cassie claimed, was going to be booze in an Egyptian coffin.

Zeke didn't say it, but he was rather hoping what Paris had WASN'T booze so he could at least discredit Cassies' hair-brained idea that she knew what was going to happen next.

Shazza nestled herself under Zekes shoulder and whispered; "So, really, how hard DO you think she hit her head? Because she's saying some pretty crazy stuff."

Zeke shrugged his big shoulders. "I dunno. I mean, she has a bump on her head, but she's talking without stuttering, doesn't seem to be stumbling…much." He amended as the young woman in question managed to trip on seemingly nothing, ending up face first in the sand.

Shazza snorted, but called forward; "Heah! Are you okay!?"

Cassie raised one hand off of the ground and gave a thumbs up before pushing herself up off the ground, a laughing Jack running up to help her.

"So you don't think a hit to the head is causing these…these delusions?" Shazza asked quietly, watching as the young Jack helped Cassie up, snorting in laughter.

Zeke shrugged again. "I dunno, Shaz. I'm not a doctor. Come on, let's go see what this Paris guy has."

"Right." Shazza said, trying rather unsuccessfully to push aside her worries.

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**CASSIE AND JACK**

"Ugh, sand." Cassie stood and began to dust the little granules off of her kitty pajama pants. Then she added an old Disney line for good measure, smirking as she did so. "Sand. It's everywhere. Get used to it."

Jack, laughing at her tumble, arched an eyebrow before asking; "Walk much?"

"Yeah, ever since I was two, and I still trip and fall." Cassie replied, wrapping an arm around Jacks shoulders and walking with her.

"So," Jack began, pushing Cassies arm from her shoulders in a gruff 'I'm-not-a-kid-anymore' teenage way. "What'd you tell the others that's got'em so freaked out?"

The brunette sighed and pushed back a long strand of her fast-drying hair. "I told them the truth about me."

"Which is?" Jack asked, kicking at the sand in a bored way.

Cassie chewed her lower lip anxiously. She really didn't want to alienate Jack, but the kid would hear it from someone sooner or later and she'd rather it be from her. "Well, I kinda already know what's going to happen."

Jack smiled, obviously thinking she was kidding. "Uh-huh."

Cassie sighed. "I'm being serious, hon. I know that Johns is a mercenary-druggie, I know there's going to be an eclipse today causing total darkness and also allowing the things underground, which light hurts, by the way, to come up and try to eat us all."

Jack was now looking at her rather cagily and starting to edge away.

Cassie lowered her voice and pulled out the big guns. "I also know you're really a girl and your real name is Audrey."

She could have hit the kid with a two-by-four and gotten the same response; Jacks eyes went as big as plates, her jaw dropped and she actually physically leaned away from her.

The reaction sent unexpected pangs into Cassies heart. True, it wasn't like she expected Jack to believe her right away, or to support her whole-heartedly, but she didn't want the kid **_afraid_** of her.

Finally, 'Jack' regained her voice-box. "I-I don't know what you're talking about! You're CRAZY!"

Cassie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm not going to tell anyone, Jack, so relax."

"Yeah, well, it's a good thing I'm a boy and you're just insane!"

Cassie winced. Her plan of telling Jack had backfired to mammoth proportions. The kid seemed like she was having a panic attack!

"Okay, okay!" Cassie hastened to reassure the teen, trying to think of how to calm her down.

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**RIDDICK**

The sound of yelling brought Riddick out of the relative safety of the ship into the bright light as he quietly and stealthily prowled his way around the metal behemoth, a hand-made shiv at the ready. Something was freaking the pup out. The little tomboys panic and fear were permeating the air and he didn't like it. He was made even more unhappy when the scent of his mates panic was added to the mix.

Wait…..mate?

Shoving the thought aside for another time, preferably when the woman and pup in his pack were calm, and peered carefully around a protrusion of the ship. There was the woman-from-another-realm (_mate_) and his pup. . . . . The two free-settlers were fast approaching the pair, but there were no other enemies that he could see or hear or sense. So what on Earth was going on!?

That was when some of what the pup was screaming reached his ears.

"Yeah, well, it's a good thing I'm a boy and you're just insane!"

If Riddick had been that type of person, he would have face-palmed himself. What was the woman thinking going around and telling everyone the truth!?

The pup was really working herself into a good tantrum, Shazza and Zeke joining in and Riddick crouched in the sand, torn between instinct to pack and a long-engrained instinct to stay hidden, to learn more.

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**AN: Bonus points to whomever can remember which movie that Disney line is from! LOL.**


	11. Chapter 11 Duty

**CHAPTER ELEVEN:**

**Duty**

**AN: Bonus points and candy plus a free eyeshine to ; 20DreamBig12, Lady-of-Reecia, Bamon, and moonlitepssion for correctly answering the question as to which movie the Disney quote was from. Yes, it was Aladdin and the King of Thieves, said by Genie! BRAVO!**

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Riddick growled low to himself, clenching his teeth as he watched the scene. On one hand, he needed to stay hidden. These people were more likely to pull a gun on him than accept his help,(_not that he was going to offer it_) and he needed to learn more…..know more. On the other hand, the pup was working herself into a frenzy (_which couldn't be good for her health_) and needed to be brought to heel….._fast_.

Subconsciously he started a low, alpha growl deep in his throat, a warning to a pack-member to ….._calm_…_down_…..or else. What he really wanted to do was storm over there and grab the pup by the back of the neck till she quieted then get her settled into some safe place in the ruins of the ship for a rest, the woman with her. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen the woman drink at all from the radiator.

His growl became louder...became…..pissed.

He had **_TOLD_** her to make sure she drank, not to let the merc hog it all. He had given her a **_SPECIFIC ORDER_**. There were three suns out here; the heat was tremendous. Dehydration was a very real threat.

The pup was shouting again and he was about ready to intervene himself, their wariness and guns be d***ed, when the two free-settlers quickened their pace and got to the woman and the pup first.

Still balanced on the balls of his feet, ready to head over if the two settlers couldn't handle it, Riddick watched and observed.

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**SHAZZA/ZEKE/CASSIE/JACK**

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here!?" Shazza injected herself between Jack and Cassie, wrapping a comforting and restraining arm around Jacks shoulders. "Calm down."

Jack pointed accusingly at Cassie. "_**SHE'S INSANE! COMPLETELY CRAZY!"**_There was total panic in the pre-teens eyes and Shazza tried to shush him/her.

Zeke shouldered his way in, blocking Cassies view from Shazza and Jack, his brown eyes fiery. "What did you say to him!?" the settler demanded.

Cassie winced and took a small step back. Then she took a deep breath and straightened herself up, looking him in the eye. "The truth." She answered firmly. "I want him to be ready when the eclipse happens."

"You mean the truth as **_YOU_** see it." Zeke growled. He turned a gave a pointed look to Shazza who began to lead the infuriated and scared pre-teen away.

Zeke then turned his amber glare on her. "Now you listen here, girl" his fists clenched at his sides, workers muscles bulging. "I don't care **_WHAT_** fantasies you believe going on in that little head of yours, but you do **_NOT_** force them on others and cause a panic!"

Cassie gritted her teeth, her own fists clenching. "I'm trying to keep everyone **_ALIVE!_** In the movie it's only Riddick, Jack, and Imam who survive, only those three—"

Zeke interrupted, and this time there was a kind of frustrated sympathy in his eyes…..Cassie thought she would rather prefer the anger. He grabbed hold of her shoulders, making her start and shook her a little. "This is **_NOT_** **_A MOVIE! _**" his hissed the last bit, trying to get through to her. "This is **_REAL LIFE!_**"

She lurched herself backwards and looked down at the sand. Growling, Zeke departed.

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**RIDDICK**

Riddick was letting out his own growl, fluid muscles tensing and curling. If the settler had held onto his mate for one more second, shaking her, he would have plowed him into the ground. Whether or not he could be a good beta wasn't part of the equation, no-one, **_NO-ONE_** touched his mate like that!

But Zeke left, and Riddick was free to approach the woman his animal recognized as his mate.

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"That was a very stupid thing you just did, telling the girl." Riddicks voice, deep and masculine and oh-so-suddenly behind her made Cassie jump about five feet in the air, clutching at her chest.

"Geez louise, Riddick! Warn a girl next time!" Cassie exclaimed, glaring at the Fuyran who had now started circling her like she was his prey, his countenance stern.

"What, did you expect her to believe you just like that?" he growled, still circling, and Cassie looked down at her feet, wincing.

"Well, no, but I couldn't **_lie_** to her and one of the others would have told her eventually." She defended herself.

Riddick growled, really growled, making her look up startled and eyes wide. "If you hadn't told them the truth in the first place, they wouldn't be _**ABLE**_to tell the kid!"

Cassie held both hands up in a half-pleading gesture. "They'll know I was telling the truth soon enough," she pointed out. "When everything I've talked about starts happening."

His growl was now pretty much going full throttle. "Or they'll just come up with another explanation, one that makes more sense to them and puts you in a crazier light. And I told you to drink from the radiator!"

She blinked, taking in the change of subject. "Wait, wha—oh. I forgot." She said simply.

Riddick pressed in close, invading her personal space in a major way, forcing her to crane her neck to look up at him. She felt her knees begin to feel a little weak, taking in his musky scent, feeling him up against her.

"You forgot….." Riddick repeated darkly, then pointed imperiously over her shoulder and towards the ship. "March you're a** back in there and drink, woman." His voice was a threatening purr.

She bit her lower lip again, decided not to push her luck, and turned to go back into the ruins of the ship with Riddick dogging her heels.

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Riddick kept a close eye on her as she drank, standing only a foot away, arms crossed and constantly scanning their surroundings.

When she had finished, she wiped her mouth and turned back to him, jumping a little when she saw how close he was.

Riddick ignored her start, still glowering down at her.

Cassie winced. "You…..you believe me, don't you?"

The vulnerability in her voice made his features soften ever-so-slightly. "Yeah, woman, I believe you." Surprising both of them, he reached out and wrapped a strong arm around her waist, pulling her closer, closing that one small inch so that she was resting up against his chest.

She leaned her weight up against him and let out a soft croon of contentment.

"I saw you appear out of thin air," Riddick continued, leaning down to nuzzle and scent her hair. "If I hadn't seen that, I would've thought you were crazy, too." One thumb rubbed her spine gently, soothingly. He hadn't even known he could **_DO_** gentle. Unsettled by the intense urge to cradle, to protect, to soothe, he abruptly let go and stepped back, making her eep in surprise and stumble.

He steadied her briefly then let go.

"You need to stop telling people what you know." Riddick ordered, growling at her when she opened her mouth to begin to protest.

"But—"

"You heard me!" his voice had that alpha timbre and she snapped her mouth shut. "Everyone will find out whether you're telling the truth or not sooner or later, but until then **_keep your head down_** **_and your mouth shut._** Do you understand me?"

She pressed her lips together defiantly.

Riddick growled and raised his voice. "**_DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?"_**

She winced at the volume, covering her ears and nodded her head quickly. "Yeah, yeah! I understand you!" she chewed her lower lip anxiously before she began again. "So many of them are going to die, Riddick. If I know how, isn't it my duty to prevent it?"

"It's your duty to stay alive." Riddick growled. "Now start showing some brains, if you have any and THINK!" He knew immediately he had hurt her. She winced as if he had physically struck her and jerked back. Cursing himself, he pulled her back into his arms. "Calm down. Now we're gonna sit down and you're gonna tell me what you know, understand?"

Cassie nodded in his arms, suddenly feeling very tired.


	12. The Proof in the Booze

**CHAPTER TWELVE:**

**The Proof in the Booze**

**AN: 10/24/13**

**2:04 am**

**I can't sleep. So here's another chapter. LOL.**

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"The whole bloody containers upside-down. It's all topsy-turvy. Well, thank goodness it's not a total loss." Paris P. Ogilvie said as he knelt next to his precious stash which happened to be contained in a coffin…..an Egyptian sarcophagus, to be exact.

Shazza practically felt all the blood leaving her face as she looked at her husband. "An Egyptian coffin…..just like she said….."

Paris looked up at the couple, confused. "Pardon?"

"It has to be a coincidence." Zeke responded, ignoring Paris entirely as he looked at his wife.

Shazza looked back to the antiques dealer. "That, uh, wouldn't happen to be booze, would it?"

Paris squinted up at her in the dark light of the crashed cargo hold. "Well, it's wine, actually, but I suppose you could call it that, yes."

Jacks jaw dropped. "…..Just like she said….." he/she muttered quietly.

Paris narrowed his rather mousy eyebrows, looking even more confused while Johns muscled his way to the front, practically growling.

"Come on, guys, don't buy into the crap that crazy's sellin'" the pretend-cop growled. He then addressed Paris. "Did you tell anyone what was in that coffin?"

Paris's spine stiffened while at the same time he seemed to withdraw back, becoming defensive. "Well, no, but….."

"That's because it's illegal to ship alcohol on a cargo ship unless it's a ship meant specifically for that purpose." Carolyn Fry informed them, her voice still nasally from her broken nose.

"Well, technically—" Paris began to defend himself, but Johns cut in.

"Are you **_ABSOLUTELY SURE_** you didn't tell anyone what was in that coffin, didn't let it slip."

Poor Paris couldn't seem to decide whether or not he was in trouble. "well, yes, but, really, what does it matter now? I mean, we're all survivors here—"

Again, Johns interrupted. The merc was now pacing back and forth in agitation, fingers twitching. "I'm less concerned about the fact that you were bootlegging, Mr. Ogilvie, and more concerned about whether or not anyone found out what you had in that coffin."

Everyone except Zeke, Shazza, Jack, Carolyn, and Johns were completely confused.

"Excuse me, Mr. Johns," Imam cut in with an arm around one of his children's shoulders, "but I fail to see why this is relevant."

"Because she already knew….." Jack answered before Johns could stop him/her. "Cassie knew there was booze in there….."

Now Paris looked completely flummoxed. "What? Who? You mean the young woman in the pajamas? But that's impossible, I mean, I never even laid eyes on her until after the crash."

Zeke, Shazza and Jack exchanged looks.

"But…..but really, that's not that odd, is it?" Paris asked, confused. "I mean, there were lots of people on that ship."

Johns ran a shaky hand through his long hair. "Exactly, I mean, she's probably just a crazy stowaway."

"Except you said yourself there are programs to prevent stowaways." Shazza pointed out.

"_**I KNOW THAT!**_" Johns yelled, suddenly lunging at the female settler, but Zeke stepped in front of his wife immediately, amber eyes hard.

"Calm yourself, Mr. Johns." Imam said softly, smoothly, kindly, though he himself looked worried and he had pushed his boy behind him gently. "There is no reason for us to turn against each other."

"Though there will be if he attacks my wife." Zeke said coldly.

"I'm sure Mr. Johns did not mean it that way," Imam soothed, trying to be the peacemaker, but his eyes were worried. "Come, we must all work together now."

"I dunno," Zeke said in his Australian accent as Shazza put a calming hand on his arm. "but that convict's lookin' better and better."

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**VOCAB**:

**FLUMMOXED**: confused.


	13. Chapter 13 A Nest

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN:**

**A Nest**

**AN: 10/24/2013**

**3:18 am**

**I am proud to say that this idea came ENTIRELY FROM ME! THANK YOU LORD!**

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**BACK AT THE RUINS OF THE HUNTER GRATZNER**

Cassie stood, gaping at the image infront of her, torn between amazement and the extreme urge to giggle.

A nest.

The greatest and most feared convict, Richard B. Riddick had made a nest.

That was the best way to describe it; this little closet (_perhaps originally used for cleaning supplies_) padded and filled with emergency foam and the cushioning from the cryo-tubes, obviously cut out with shivs.

Riddick looked very annoyed at her expression of 'so-cute' and growled to snap her out of it. "Quit standing there and get in!"

She tried unsuccessfully to stifle her smile as she obeyed, squirming around till she was comfy. "This is really nice." She rubbed a piece of foam against her cheek to absorb the texture. "Comfy."

Riddick growled shortly and sat down infront of the little 'nest', blocking the entrance facing sideways so he could still keep an eye out and act as a barrier to any threat.

"Alright, start talking." Riddick ordered. "Start with where you're from and how you managed to appear on the Hunter Gratzner."

Cassie settled herself back, not looking forward to telling the tale. For one thing, she was terrified she'd forget something or something up and, for another, she could feel the left side of her face starting to swell from Johns backhand. She reached up and gingerly touched her cheek, gauging the swelling and wincing at the tenderness. She also didn't miss Riddicks stoic face tightening ever-so-slightly.

"He'll pay for that." Riddick promised in a flat yet deadly voice.

She didn't know how to respond to that, so she just shrugged.

"If I were you, I'd start talking before it's too hard to talk." Riddick advised, even though it was obviously an order.

Right.

Deep breath.

"Okay, I can do this. My name is Cassie Andrews. I'm twenty years old and I live, er, **_lived_** in a little apartment on Earth in the year -. " she paused to take in Riddicks reaction, but he just sat there, about as immoveable and expressionless as a bolder. So she took a deep breath and continued. "I was watching the movie 'Pitch Black' on my laptop, which is a movie about all of this—" here she made a big gesture meant to include everything "—when my lights started flickering."

Then she told him everything; about suddenly appearing on the Hunter Gratzner as it crashed, then about the movie 'Pitch Black' starring the actor Vin Diesel.

She told him about the eclipse that happened every twenty or twenty-two years (_she couldn't remember which_) and the bioraptors/grue that lived underground and couldn't take the light. She told him about Zekes death and how he would be blamed for it before Carolyn went into the ground and found the monsters and all that was left of Zeke; his foot.

-Here, Riddicks eyebrow twitched.—

She told him about, in the movie, how he was chained up then set free to help everyone escape, the sand-cat, Shazzas death, Johns wanting to kill Jack to use as bait—

-here Riddick actually growled again. A primal, bone-chilling promise of death and Cassie shivered even though she knew it wasn't directed at her.

She told him about the coring room and the death of Ali and the two other boys, closing, finally, with how only he, Jack and Imam got out alive.

But she didn't tell him about the saddles…..because she didn't know about them. After all, there was nothing in the movie 'Pitch Black' about the creatures to whom the grue were merely mounts, the alien version of horses. . . . .only a million times more violent.

She didn't tell him because she didn't know.

But she would…

…..They all would.

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**AN: DUN DUN DUUUUUN!**


	14. Chapter 14 Plans

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN:**

**Plans**

By the time she finished her 'story' she was actually beginning to nod off, leaning up against the cushions and the foam, eyelids fluttering.

Riddick managed to coax her awake for a few more sips of water before he let her doze off, then he sat and thought.

A lot of the time, most people saw Riddick as nothing more than muscled brawn at first glance, big and stupid. However, depending on whether or not he stuck around and whether or not some foolish merc tried to turn him in, they found much more.

Richard B. Riddick was not only a fighter; a master with the knife and perfectly capable with any other weapon, he was also a fighter **_pilot_**, capable of flying any ship in the galaxy.

Being a fighter pilot wasn't just about flying a ship and shooting a gun at random enemies. It required extreme mathematical skills, good instincts (_which Riddick had more than his fair share of_) knowledge of meteorology (_weather_) and basic medical procedures (_which had been enhanced by his time in the slam. When some fool decided to shiv you in your sleep, you learned fast how to patch yourself up, not that many got the chance with him but he still had quite a few scars from when he had been a kid_). Then there was also the fact that you needed a three year college degree (_which he had gained when they put him in the military to try to 'control' him_).

No, Richard B. Riddick was no ignoramus, and now he sat down to plan his next move.

The girl

(no, the woman)

Had spoken of a settlement where some geologists had lived before the eclipse. There would be water there, maybe some non-perishable food so he could get his pack fed and watered. The only trick was how to lead them there without getting a bullet in the head.

Then there was the matter of that skiff his woman had mentioned. She had already told him how the Hunter Gratzners power-cells were compatible with the skiff and how Johns wouldn't want all the cells needed taken right away because he would fear Riddicks escape.

Normally, that is exactly what Riddick would be doing. Even now part of him couldn't believe he wasn't already grabbing the power-cells from the Hunter Gratzner and high-tailing it to the skiff himself. But there was the woman sleeping in the 'nest' he had made…..but there were those his instincts had claimed as 'pack'. So far, this only included the woman (_Cassie_) the pup (_Jack_) the Free Settler (_Zeke_) and by extension Zekes mate (_Shazza_). Imam he still wasn't sure of, but his three (3) pups would be included if only because they still had their innocence. That was seven (_for certain_) that would need food and water. Then the creatures underground…..what had she called them?... …..ah, yes, the grue. Those would need to be dealt with as well.

Riddicks smile was pure animal.

Now **_THAT_** was a fight he was looking forward to.

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**MEANWHILE: **

**Underground**

Deep, deep underground, living in the hollow caverns of the Planet that had no name on the maps, only a number, the Juunani cast their milky eyes upward towards the surface of their planet and listened.

Decades of living in darkness had turned their eyes completely black, their pupils enlarged to take in even the slightest sliver of light…..not that they really needed their eyes anymore; the darkness underneath rendered eyesight almost obsolete.

Instead, the Juunani, with their long white hair bleached of any color and their skin as slimy and grey as a clams insides, used the same method of sight as their mounts did; echo-location.

Now, from the vibrations trickling from above they knew others had, once again, come to their planet, and just in time for the Great Darkness…..Just in time for their hunt.

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**VOCABULARY**:

**OBSOLETE**: Not needed

**CITATIONS:**

Olsen, Kendall. "Skills Required To Be An Air-Force Pilot." _eHow_. N.p.. Web. 25 Oct 2013. info_7756778_ .


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN: **

**AN: Has anyone ever noticed that in movies (except maybe horror films) nobody seems to have a bladder? There are NO toilet breaks! I mean, come on, you can't expect The Fellowship of the Ring to travel all over Middle Earth and NOT have to stop and 'take a whiz'. **

**Just my little random thought. **

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**THE HUNTER GRATZNER**

Riddick was aware the very instant Johns, the blue-eyed devil, first crested one of the dunes, aware of him even before the merc could spot him.

He could tell by the mans gait and speed that he was pissed…..very pissed, worked up in a rage and, for once, Riddick didn't think it was directed towards him.

Looking back towards the ship where the woman still rested, Riddick palmed his newest shiv, expertly fashioned from metal broken off of the Hunter Gratzner during the crash, and made to hide himself near the nest, someplace where she would see him immediately once she woke. Then he waited.

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**CASSIE**

"GIRL!"

The loud bellow yanked her from her sleep as well as nearly making her lose control of her bladder which, she found, was uncomfortably full.

Once her eyes were focused, the first thing she saw was Riddick. He was crouched in the shadows of the ship like a predator ready to pounce, a dangerous looking sliver of metal in one hand. The sight should have sent fear into her. Instead, what she felt was safety.

He did not smile at her, but something in his stern countenance portrayed safety. A very slight softening of the eyes as he looked at her (_brief, though it was_) reminded her that she was in no danger from him.

"GIRL!" the yell was repeated and she shot an anxious look to the convict who held up one hand. The unspoken command was easy to read; '_Wait_.'

So she waited.

"Johns, calm down." Came Shazzas voice, sounding both annoyed and exasperated as the sound of their footsteps came closer to 'the nest'.

"Don't you tell me to calm down—" came the mercenary's incensed voice. "Damn it, where IS that girl!?"

"Probably hiding," came Shazzas annoyed voice "which is exactly what I would be doing if you were yelling for me like that."

"Yeah, man, chill out." Came young Jacks voice.

Cassie clapped both hands over her mouth, fighting the urge to giggle and making Riddick arch an eyebrow at her.

"SHUT UP, YOU BRAT!"

Riddick let out a low, dangerous growl which Cassie found herself echoing.

"Hey now!" they heard Shazza reprimand Johns angrily. "There's no need for that!"

Cassie began to work her way out of the little nest, causing Riddick to switch his glare and growl to her.

She held out both hands and gave him an indignant '_what!?_` look. He responded by shoving his dark goggles up and pinning her with his stern, silver eyes. He might as well have been shouting at her to stay put at the top of his lungs.

She motioned towards the sound of the voices.

The growl got a little louder. If flames could shoot from eyes, she was sure she would be singed right about now, so Cassie threw up her hands in a gesture of mixed defeat and annoyance. `_Stupid alpha males…`_

She shifted uneasily on her feet. `_Ah man, I REALLY have to pee…..`_ she shot an annoyed glare over at Riddick. `….._that is if Mr. Convict will let me_.`

Cassie waved her arms and hands in an elaborate, over-done gesture like she was trying to flag down an airplane to get Riddicks attention. When the Furyan arched an eyebrow at her, looking slightly amused despite himself, she mouthed 'I have to pee'.

Now Riddick did **_NOT_** look amused.

Then the sound of heavy foot-steps (Johns) as he came closer to the little closet nest.

Riddick tensed, balanced easily on the balls of his feet as Johns came into view. The instant he spotted Cassie, the rage and sheer fury on his face made her lean back instinctively, eyes wide. If it wasn't for Riddick with his shiv crouched in the shadows, she believed she would have truly started panicking.

"Alright you little con b****" Johns growled, grabbing her by the shoulders and beginning to pull her up roughly, intending to shake her.

"Hey now, mate!" Zeke moved to interfere, but Riddick beat him to it; there was now a very deadly shiv pressed dangerously right above the mercenary's jugular.

Everyone froze.

"Bad move, Johns." Riddick practically purred.

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Everyone froze. Everyone.

It was a telling move, however, that no-one moved to help Johns. Riddick thought that it **_MIGHT_** be because of the shiv he had rested over the mercenarys life-blood, but it also might be because the others were beginning to lose trust in the wolf-in-sheeps-clothing and, if that was true, it was a very good thing.

"Riddick!" Young Jack seemed absolutely ecstatic, hero-worship written over every inch of her androgynous face.

"Riddick….." Shazza breathed his name as well, but it was cautious, unsure of how to feel.

Riddick, however, seemed to ignore them all in favor of the breathing bag-of-filth he had under his makeshift blade. "Didn't your mother teach you not to shake a woman?" he asked, his voice a deadly purr, filled with threat and malice. "Not a very nice thing for a cop to do, now is it, Johnny-boy. Now why don't you tell them your real occupation?"

Zeke looked suspiciously from Johns to Riddick then back to Johns again. "Real occupation?"

"This is ridiculous, Riddick, put that knife away." Carolyn ordered in her nasally voice. Brave words even though she was slowly backing away herself.

Riddick, instead, aimed his next question at the brown-skinned settler, Zeke. "Did all the kids get to drink?"

Zeke gave a curt nod, replying in his Australian accent. "Yeah. I made sure of it."

Shazza gave her husband a quick, warm smile before looking back to Riddick with his knife at Johns throat, her face contemplative.

"You see any kind of animal out there?" Riddick asked, still addressing Zeke.

"Nothing. Just sand." Zeke responded. "Not even a desert-mouse."

"Huh….." Riddick said in a thoughtful voice. "Slim pickings for food." He turned his shiv thoughtfully against Johns vein. "Whaddya say, Billy-Bad-ass? How am I supposed ta keep this group fed, hm? Maybe filet you up, hows that sound?"

Shazza made a kind of choking sound, and Jack let out a breath of "Awesome" making Zeke cuff her gently in the back of the head, giving her a glare.

Riddick smirked inwardly, managing to find a smidgen of amusement in the predicament while he tried to ride out his anger. Johns had shaken his mate…._SHAKEN_ her!...He hadn't told the others of the water or seen to their safety. Of course, he couldn't think of how quickly the rag-tag group of survivors had become a pack…..**_HIS_** pack….

Wait…..No…..What was he thinking!? Just because the group didn't have an alpha didn't mean he immediately had to step up to the plate. It was ridiculous…After all, Richard B. Riddick remembered all too well what had happened to the last group of people he had considered pack….

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**AN: Dun dun DUUUUN! Do I sense foreshadowing? I THINK I DO! Next chapter, a peek into a bit of Riddicks past (invented my yours truly) and his old 'pack'!**


	16. Chapter 16 Remembering Cookie

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN:**

**Remembering**

**AN: This chapter is a flashback on one of Riddicks times in prison.**

**Also, I in no way, shape or form condone killing. This is Riddick, however, so I regret to inform you there will be deaths in this chapter. Remember, folks, it's just a fic.**

**…okay, the sounds like I overdid it. READ ON!**

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_LAST TIME:_

_Wait…..no…What was he thinking!? Just because the group didn't have an alpha didn't mean he immediately had to step up to plate. It was ridiculous…..After all, Richard B. Riddick remembered all too well what had happened with the last group of people he had considered pack…._

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**URSA LUNA PRISON**

**FOUR YEARS AGO**

It had been on Ursa Luna during one of his prison 'visits' that he had met the little ten (10) year old. The kid had been emaciated, weak, and all eyes, scampering around the prison like a malnourished mouse, largely unnoticed by the guards and deemed unfit for notice by the other hard-core prisoners incarcerated for murder (or worse).

Riddick had noticed the kid. Thanks to his Furyan eye-shine, he had no trouble spotting the little munchkin, barely managing to hide a smirk as the kid picked a guards pocket, revealing a small packet of cookies, without even letting the wrapper crinkle.

"What are you lookin' at, scum!?" the guard growled threateningly at him.

Unphased, Riddick just looked at him passively, his face betraying no emotion, still aware of the child scampering away and crawling into a vent that only a very small child could fit through.

`_Interesting_…..`

The guard shoved him again, but Riddick didn't even sway, arching an eyebrow at the walking dead man.

That's when the guard pulled out a taser…..

The first zap should have sent Riddick to his knees, instead it just made his muscles tense and a growl escape his lips.

Then the now panicking guard amped up the power and Riddicks vision went black.

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The Furyan awoke to a small group of three (3) guards surrounding him with their bright flashlights, tasers, and steel-toed boots, kicking him while he was down…..but Riddick wasn't one to let himself be kicked.

He caught an incoming boot as it aimed for his kidneys and gave a sharp twist, pleased when he heard a bone snap as well as throwing the guy to the ground.

He was on his feet before the others could even process what had just happened, lashing out with unchained legs, muscles moving like whip-cords, knocking the men to the ground. He didn't try to go for their guns, which would be a newbie mistake; the guns were specially made with DNA recognition software and anyone who tried to hold the gun except the owner got a nasty shock…..literally.

Instead, he searched the guards for anything useful (cigarettes, food, a lighter) and was rewarded with a pack of menthol kools and another bag of cookies (a soldier with a sweet tooth.)

Having taken all the useful items he could find, the Furyan then stood there, thinking. When the guards came to, they would more than likely be out for his blood, so it was probably best to ghost them now.

He had just knelt down at the first guards head when the slightest of scampers caught his ear and he jerked his head to the right. It was the kid, the little cookie-thief, staring at him with too-big eyes.

Riddick sighed. "Ya might wanna look away, kid." He advised in his deep voice. When the child didn't move, Riddick shrugged. The kid had probably seen worse in this slam anyways. Turning back to the guard, he ended the mans life with a quick snap of the neck. He did the same to the other two guards then grabbed one of them by the legs and began to haul the dead man off into the shadows. No need to let anyone find them too quickly, someone might recognize them as the guards who had brought him in.

It took him only moments to hide the three (3) bodies, and he had figured the kid would have scampered off by then, so he was surprised to see the child still watching him, eyes wide.

Riddick shrugged mentally to himself, but found himself handing another packet of cookies to the child.

"Here kid."

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END FLASHBACK


	17. Chapter 17 Foot Matters

** CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:**

** Foot Matters (for lack of a better idea)**

**AN: I wanted to make this chapter super long and then post it right after I posted the last one. The problem is, I've gotten stuck on how to get the group TO the boneyard. Sorry for the long wait. Lol. Suggestions are welcome.**

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**UNKNOWN PLANET**

Riddick shook himself mentally from the thoughts of the child who he had taken to calling 'Cookie' during his time in the slam 'Ursa Luna'. That had been years ago.

This was the present. The now. There was no time to think over times past, only things to take care of in the present.

"What do you care whether we eat or not?" Carolyn the b**** asked, still backing away slowly.

Riddick rolled his eyes, though you couldn't tell behind his goggles. "Who says I care whether or not **_you_** eat?"

Cassie had stood and was carefully making her way around the two forms. "While you guys discuss this, I'm gonna go take a quick potty break around the back of the ship. Everyone stay in here!" she began to dart towards the door, pausing only to look back at Riddick. "Don't kill'em, Riddick! We'll need him!"

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Riddick growled low, feeling his hackles rise. If Johns was a threat to the pack, of **_COURSE_** he was gonna kill him. Who did she think she was telling him **_NOT_** to eliminate a danger, and what on earth did she mean by **_NEEDING_** him.

"Come on, mate" came Zekes low, Australian voice. "Let'em go. Don't prove him right.

Instinct once again warred with reason.

On one hand, Johns was a threat. It wasn't just the fact that he was a merc who had captured him, it was the fact that he had shaken his woman, the fact that he had taken water without seeing to it that the pups drank first, the man was a danger to his PACK.

`_What the *&^%, they're NOT my PACK, dammit!`_ He cursed to himself. But was getting the feeling it was too late. His animal side, his Furyan side (_which was, considerably, most of him_) recognized all of them (_except for Johns and Carolyn_) as pack.

Under his protection.

Under his care.

Under his rule.

…..but she had said they would NEED the b******, as much as it irked him. So, instead, he leaned in _reeeaaal_ close and whispered in the mercenarys ear.

"This is how it's gonna go, Johns. You're gonna behave, nice and good like, right where I can see you."

Johns snorted, trying to maintain his bravado. "Isn't that my line?"

Riddick continued as if he hadn't heard him. "But you lay ONE hand on any of the pups here, one finger on my mate, and I'll slice your throat where you stand. Got it?"

Johns was obviously trying to brush Riddick off, like he didn't care even though Riddicks shiv was right at his jugular, but Riddick could smell his fear through the haze of morphine.

Without waiting for an answer, Riddick shoved the mercenary forward viciously, jerking the mans gun out of his holster as he did so. "Can't have you goin' all bullet happy on my ass." The Furyan smirked to the mercenary, completely at ease with the high-tech weapon.

Carolyn Fry looked uncertain whether she should run or not, and settled for glaring at Zeke. "WHY AREN'T YOU DOING ANYTHING!? STOP HIM!"

Riddick felt a pulse of satisfaction when the settler with an Australian accent simply looked at her.

"I doubt I could take him, girl, though I'm not without my own strength." Zeke responded to her. "'Sides, I don't think he's the one we've got to worry about right now."

Riddick couldn't resist shooting Carolyn a quick, gloating smirk before turning his attention back to the rest of his 'pack'. "Alright, there should be a geologists settlement, we should be able to find some more food and water at least." The Furyan stood tall, confident, and completely at ease in his own body, exuding a dominant, in-control and secure aura, an aura of dangerous safety (_if that wasn't a contradiction in terms_); safety to his pack-mates and danger to all who threatened them or himself.

"How do you know there's a geologist settlement?" Shazza asked, even though Riddick guessed she already knew the answer.

The Furyan nodded towards the direction his mate had run. "SHE knows." He looked over to Zeke, commanding. "Go and get the Holy Man and his three (3) pups and bring them here. Be quick about it."

Zeke gave him an appraising look, straightening his own, broad shoulders. "Look, just because I'd rather take my chances with you right now than that guy," the Aussie nodded towards Johns who still seemed to be fumbling on his feet. "doesn't mean I'm just goin' ta fall at yer feet, mate. For all I know you could be the worse choice."

Riddick couldn't help but smirk at him. "You know that's not true." He said confidently, lifting his chin a little higher in the air, scenting the males mood, examining his body language. "You know somethin's up with Billy-boy over there," he gave a quick jerk of the head towards Johns. "And even better, it seems you've got good instincts, for a regular human. I'm the best one to get you all off this planet in one piece, I'm your best chance of survival—" he almost brought up his being the alpha right then and there, but decided that actions would most likely speak louder than words. And the Aussie seemed to have accepted him (_Riddick_) as Alpha, even if it was just subconsciously.

Zeke arched an eyebrow. "Human? You say you're not human then?"

Riddick tilted his head to the side cockily. "You think a human could be born with eyes like these?" he lifted up his goggles, just a little and very briefly to show his gleaming silver eyes, making the group start a little.

Jack let out a gasp of "COOL!"

Riddick gave the pre-teen an appraising glance then looked back to Zeke, reestablishing his order. "Go get the Holy Man and his kids, bring them here. Now."

Zeke turned to follow his commands.

Riddick then turned his attention to Jack. "Come'ere, pup, let me see your shoes."

Jack/Audrey, still in the throes of hero-worship blinked up at him, stunned. "What?"

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**CASSIE**

The nineteen-year old let out a sigh of relief as she finished her 'business' in the sand and pulled up and pants again before heading back to the ship.

The sight that greeted her sent warm fuzzies shooting up and down her spine. Riddick had had Jack/Audrey sit down on one of the pipes and was inspecting her footwear, explaining in a very commanding way why it was important that his/her shoes fit right, just like a true soldier.

When Zeke came back in, leading Imam and his three boys, Riddick did the same thing to them. Sulieman, the youngest, seemed to the most afraid of the big, brawny convict and hid slightly behind his fathers robes.

Cassie didn't blame the kid, Riddick was intimidation personified, but then, the young chrislam child seemed to relax when Riddick turned his goggled gaze on him, making Cassie tilt her head to the side as she thought.

`_Well…..in the books and movies he always did have a way with kids_…..`

-_excerpt from book_-

_`As her mother brushed at her tears and tried to quiet her, Riddick came over and stared down. Meeting his eyes, Ziza quickly went silent._

_Lajjun looked up at him uncertainly. "Do you have a way with children?"_

_He shook his head curtly. "Only with real people. She qualifies." _

-end excerpt-

And wasn't that how Johns and Toombs had caught Riddick in the first place? By threatening children? She couldn't help but let out a low growl at the thought, aiming a glare at Johns and making Riddick whip his head around to look at her.

The Furyan convict arched an eyebrow at her in silent question, then turned back to Imams three kids.

"Come'ere," he made a beckoning motion with his hand. "Let me see your shoes."

Imam seemed like he would hold his children back for a second or two, but then gently nudged them forward, though his own brow was arched. "Why do you want to look at their shoes?"

"A soldiers most important asset is his feet," Riddick explained, much like he had to Jack. "If the shoes don't fit properly, if the foot gear isn't right, you could end up in a world of hurt."

Johns snorted. "Quit acting like you care, convict."

Riddick ignored him, though Zeke sent the mercenary/fake-cop a glare. "Why don't you shut your mouth."

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**RIDDICK**

Riddick knelt down to inspect the childrens shoes one by one, giving a curt nod of approval. Imam had obviously spared no expense in his childrens clothing, they were of plain cut (_suitable for a chrislam_) but well made and of durable fabric.

The Furyan wasn't concerned about Zeke and Shazzas shoes, being settlers they would already know the importance of foot-gear and would already have the best for travel. Carolyn and Johns weren't worth his notice, except for perhaps kill spots. The kid Jack had suitable enough shoes, though he thought perhaps there might-MIGHT-be some better among the corpses left from the crash. That was also where he intended to go find some proper foot-gear for his mate, provided everything hadn't been charred beyond recognition.

He then turned to his mate, eyed her wrapped feet and snarled a little at the situation.

When she arched an eyebrow at him, looking both curious, amused and even a little wary, he explained. "The way I wrapped your feet will do in a pinch, but I'm going to see if I can get some shoes for you from the crash."

Carolyn looked like she was about to puke. "You can't mean…._grave robbing!?_" She covered her hand with her mouth.

Cassie rolled her eyes and Riddick heard her mumble 'Hypocrite' under her breath.

"Isn't grave-robbing if there aren't any graves." Riddick responded with a deadly smirk.

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**VOCABULARY**:

**EXCERPT**: a small selection from part of a book

**DURABLE**: long-lasting

**CITATIONS**:

Foster, Alan. _The Chronicles of Riddick_. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004. Print.


	18. Scavenging and History

**CHAPTER 18**:

Scavenging and History

**AN: I got the information on Riddicks History from the Riddick Wikia. Anyone who loves to write Riddick-Fanfiction, this is a great site to get information. See citations at the end of the chapter.**

**Also, I have NO idea how the re-breathers were made in the movie, so I just made something up.**

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**CASSIE**

She had to admit, the idea of pulling shoes off of a corpses feet did not seem like a pleasant way to pass the time, and the thought of just **_WEARING_** shoes that had come off of a dead person gave her the heebie-jeebies, even though she knew a dead person didn't need a pair of shoes.

That was the time her stomach decided to give out a loud, rumbling growl. Everyone looked at her and she blushed, covering her stomach with one hand.

"Whoops. Sorry."

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**RIDDICK**

The growl Riddick gave off was pure anger, not directed at anyone in particular but at the situation and himself. `_She's hungry_…..` as his mate and the male, as well as the alpha, it was his job to provide them with food, and the fact that she was hungry at all made his feral side testy and angry.

But what was there to possibly hunt out there? He had seen no signs of life. Riddick growled again; the sooner they could get to this settlement his mate talked about the better.

"Imam, Shazza, stay with the pups. Zeke, go see if you can find ANY sign of animal life, but don't stray far. If you do find something, kill it. Johns, go with Zeke."

"I'm not followin' your orders you stupid son-of-a-"

Riddick was about to re-introduce the mercenary with his shiv when Zeke beat him to it. He reached out with a big, brown hand, strong from work, and grabbed the back of Johns neck much like an unruly cub, amusing Riddick to no-end.

"Come on." Zeke ordered. "It won't kill ya to help get some food." The brown settler practically manhandled Johns into the open sun. "Or are ya too much of a chicken to help?"

Shazza watched her husband the mercenary go with a mixture of worry and amusement. "Maybe I should go with them."

Riddick shook his head decidedly. "No. Zeke can take care of himself, especially with Johns being drugged up the way he is. I need you and Imam to watch the pups."

Shazza nodded as she shifted on her feet. "Fine. While I'm at it I'll see if I can throw something together to help us breath better. I've been feelin' one lung short."

She motioned to the children. "Come on you four, you can help me. Maybe you'll learn something while we do it."

Riddick gave an approving nod at this plan. It would keep the pups out of trouble and they would be doing something productive.

Cassie walked up to Riddick and put a hand on his shoulder, pausing by his side.

Inside, Riddick felt his animal purr in contentment and he wrapped an arm around her waist before he could guard the motion.

"I'm gonna go help Shazza and the kids with the…..the rebreather what-cha-ma-call-its. Be careful, okay? And remember, we've got to get out of here as soon as possible."

With that she stood up on tippy-toes to plant a brief, chaste kiss on Riddicks cheek.

This time he _did_ purr.

"Don't over-exert yourself." He couldn't help but part with a couple of orders. "And keep an eye on Jack for me."

"You got it." She responded. "Come on, Imam, lets go make whatchamacallits."

Imam, looking both amused and curious (_more than likely at the kiss)_ followed her.

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**DEEP UNDERGROUND**

Ctuk, one of the Juunani, selected another glowing bug from the clay plate and bit into the juicy delicacy, silent and attuned to the vibrations and noises coming from above.

The off-worlders were moving around now. Their language was strange to him, but he could still hear their voices, feel the vibrations.

He paused to feed a handful of bugs to his mount, a strong grue named 'Jeesh' and ran a hand down the creatures smooth, grey skin. "Soon my friend" he clicked in his native language. "Soon we will hunt."

The grue gobbled the glow-worms off of his hands.

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**ABOVE GROUND:**

**ZEKE AND JOHNS**

"I can't believe your actually following that, that **_KILLERS_** orders!" Johns exclaimed to Zeke as he followed the brown-skinned settler in the bright sun.

"Shut up, will you?" Zeke hissed at the man. "If there **_ARE_** any animals here, you're gonna scare'em away."

"There's nothin' living on this planet," Johns kicked at the sand like an angry school-boy. "It's all dead. What does he expect us to kill!?"

Zeke rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. If he was a lesser man, he would have been considering cannibalism right about now; serve up a leg of John, see if he could pass it off as venison.

Shaking his head, the settler eyed the cops belt. "Why don't you make yourself useful and use those binoculars of yours. See if you can see any animals."

Johns continued to grumble, but he did pull out the binoculars from his equipment belt and used them to scan the horizon. "No animals, but I think I see some trees over there-"

"-and trees mean water." Zeke finished for him. "Maybe we should head towards that."

Instead of waiting for the 'cops' response, Zeke started for the 'trees.'

Johns gritted his teeth together, the familiar taste of copper filling his mouth, signaling his need for another hit, but he couldn't just shoot up infront of the settler. Instead, he decided to inform the man about his idiotic trust in 'Riddick'.

"Did you know Riddick has been in several different slams. Probably so many that even he's lost count."

Zeke simply rolled his eyes, not responding.

"He spent less than three (3) years in Ribald S before he overpowered a guard and took his uniform. He shot two (2) guards and a pilot before he escaped the prison on the planets only space freighter."

Johns paused to wait for a reaction and, when he received none, felt his anger grow. "Eventually he became a wanted man on five (5) planets in three (3) systems, and in that time he killed people. A LOT of people."

"People who were stupid enough to go after him, I'd imagine." Zeke grumbled under his breath.

"What was that?"

Zeke said nothing.

"Riddick had a psychological evaluation done at one of the prisons. Do you know what that evaluation said? It said that he was a violent sociopath and a murderer. The shrink recommended a frontal lobotomy."

"If you don't shut up I'm gonna give YOU a frontal lobotomy." Zeke growled at him, then he paused to give the huffing and puffing cop a once-over. "I thought you cops were supposed to stay in shape."

Johns glared at him.

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**SHAZZA / IMAM/ CASSIE/ JACK/ SUILMAN/ HASSAN/ ALI**

"Okay, so peel this layer away here and unhook the tube liiiiike…that!" Shazza explained, showing the other children how to remove some tubing from the ship after she had pulled back the outer metal layer. "We'll use these to make re-breathers."

"Cool." Young Jack said in appreciation as Shazza began to peel back more of the ships outer hull.

Cassie smiled at the childrens enthusiasm for the work when Imam walked up to her side.

"So, do you still believe this to be a dream?"

Cassie shrugged. "Well…yeah. Though, I do have to say, it's the most realistic I've ever had. So I figured I'd just go with the flow."

"And what do you do when you are killed because you believe the threat you have foretold is not real?" Imam asked seriously.

Cassie simply looked at him, unable to answer.

"I suggest you come to terms with the fact that you are NOT dreaming, child." Imam then moved to help Shazza peel back the metal.

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**ZEKE / JOHNS**

**"**Holy ****."

Zeke simply nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. Both he and Johns stood on a dune that overlooked what they had believed to be trees. Instead, the huge, mammoth bones of some long dead creatures towered over them in a foreboding array.

"What the *&^% do you think killed these things?" Johns asked as they moved carefully down to the skeletons, staring at the remains.

"I dunno, but whatever it was it was something big." Zeke commented, going up to reverently touch one of the dried out bones.

"Heah, what's this?" Johns reached down, wobbling a little, and held up what was clearly an ornate dagger made of bone.

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**AN: Dun dun DUUUUN! First the mention of saddles, now a dagger made of bone (not a shiv which would be Riddicks work) What on earth could be making these things? Could it possibly be the race that's living under the ground where they use the grue as something like horses? Well, dagnabit, I think it is!**

**CITATIONS:**

Richard b. Riddick. In _Richard B. Riddick_. Wikia. Retrieved from

Wiki/Richard_b_Riddick


	19. Chapter 19 A Sword

**CHAPTER NINETEEN:**

**A Sword**

**11:32 am**

**AN: I wanted to get another chapter out immediately after this one (aka wait to post until I had two chapters ready) but two of my favorite Authors have already updated their stories, so I figured I'd better get crackin'. I'll try to get the next chapter up tomorrow.**

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**RIDDICK / CAROLYN**

The smell of burnt flesh was **_NEVER_** pleasant, bitter and ripe, the scent of death and ashes. At least he was used to enough dead people that it didn't bother him that much. Carolyn on the other hand…..Riddick looked over his shoulder and felt like rolling his eyes. The Captain was stumbling along with both hands cupped over her nose and mouth, like that would help stop the stench.

The Alpha Furyan turned his attention back to the blackened, still smoking bodies. Some had been thrown from their cryo-tubes, sometimes yards away, others had roasted in them like a turkey in an oven. Either way, neither clothing nor shoes were salvageable.

Riddick gritted his teeth in annoyance but kept his cool. If worse came to worse, he had decided he would simply knock the dear 'Captain' unconscious and take her shoes for his mate.

The sound of vomiting finally made him turn to see said Captain puking her guts up onto the sand.

Riddick ignored her and began striding back to the ship. The woman wasn't pack, she could puke up her stomach lining for all he cared. That was when he spotted the charred corpse of what had been a young woman, he guessed.

The upper region of the body was half in half out of the cryo-tube, like the victim had attempted to crawl out of the tube while she was on fire. Her blackened remains left no obvious facial features though a few teeth marked where her mouth had been.

The corpses lower body, however, had managed to stay in pretty decent shape and, even more importantly (to Riddick) her shoes were in good condition.

Riddick tilted his head ever-so-slightly to the side, studying the shoes. They LOOKED to be his mates size.

With that decided, he began to pull the body from the tube, completely ignoring Carolyns shriek.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

He didn't bother to look at her as he dropped the body onto the sand. "You seem pretty concerned over a body that YOU killed." He said in a conversational tone.

"I-I don't know what you mean." Carolyn stuttered, her skin blanching milk white.

"Of course you don't." Riddick said, sending a devilish 'I-know-what-you-did' grin at her as he began to remove the dead girls shoes. Once he had finished, he stood and headed back to the remains of the ship, paying no attention to whether or not Carolyn followed. The only reason he had wanted her with him anyway was so that she wouldn't be near his pack.

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**CASSIE**

She was glad Shazza knew what she was doing, because she certainly didn't. All those tubes and wires and gadgets. Still, somehow or other, the settler woman had managed to make little devices that puffed air.

"Now THAT'S a talent." Cassie complimented the woman as she took the rebreather meant for her.

Shazza gave her a smile in thanks. "I do what I can."

Cassie took a puff of air from the device and promptly sneezed very loudly as some air managed to shoot up her nose. "Whoa. Now THAT'S a weird feeling."

Jack laughed at her then seemed to remember that she didn't like her and stopped.

"It looks like both parties have returned." Imam said, nodding his head towards where both Zeke and Johns were plodding their way across the sand, then to the ruined ship where Riddick turned the corner carrying a pair of shoes in one hand, a very white Carolyn following.

"Whoa. Who pissed in her drink?" Jack asked upon seeing the expression on Carolyns face.

Cassie reached out and gently hit the teen in the back of the head. "Language!"

Jack scowled at her.

Riddick reached them first and headed straight for Cassie. He eyed the re-breather she held in her hands, gave a curt nod of approval at the apparatus, then handed her the shoes. "Here, put these on."

His tone was gruff and no-nonsense, but his next actions were anything but.

Riddick pressed his body up against hers, invading her personal space in a major way so that his muscled chest was pushed up right against her shoulder, his body aligned with hers.

The Furyan tilted his head down and, in a very animalistic manner, breathed in deep, scenting her.

Cassie swore she could feel her face blushing, but at the same time, she couldn't help but lean into the muscular frame; a pillar of strength.

His strong, work-calloused hand went to her lower back and massaged the muscles there, making her breath a soft sigh of relief.

Imam looked at the pair of lovebirds and shook his head. "Did you find any survivors?" the holy man asked.

Riddick simply looked at him (_at least, Imam THOUGHT he was looking at him; who could tell when the man was wearing those goggles?)_ "No survivors." The Furyan said bluntly.

Cassie looked down at the shoes in her hand and frowned. "It seems wrong to take something from a dead person."

Now Riddick gave an authoritive growl, low and dominant. "Dead people don't need shoes, what good is it to them? Put them on." He ordered.

Her head jerked back a little and she pressed her lips together, unsure of whether or not she should be mad at him for his disregard of the dead (_even though this __**WAS**__ Riddick for crying out loud_) mad at his ordering her around, or charmed at his seeming determination to care for her.

That was when a slightly sweaty Zeke and an absolutely wheezing Johns managed to make their way up to them.

"Did you find any food?" Carolyn was the first to ask.

"No," said Zeke, holding the blade out to Riddick hilt first. "but we did find this."


End file.
